Congress has fast-forwarded its revival plan with a series of meetings -- third one in four days on Tuesday -- even as a four-member panel started its analysis on a proposal placed by strategist Prashant Kishor for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior leaders Mukul Wasnik, Digvijay Singh, KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala are studying the proposal placed by Kishor during a meeting with party chief Sonia Gandhi and other leaders last Saturday.
On Tuesday, senior leaders Kamal Nath, A K Antony, Digvijay Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, Venugopal and Surjewala met at Sonia's residence to discuss organisational issues. Sources said the group basically discussed Madhya Pradesh-related issues.
This was the third meeting in four days -- the first on Saturday, the second on Monday and the third on Tuesday.
The meetings also come ahead of the ‘Chintan Shivir’ to be held next month, probably in Rajasthan, when around 400 leaders from the Congress Working Committee members and central and state leadership converge to discuss the next course of action.
In Saturday's meeting, Kishor had suggested an overhaul of the party’s approach. He has suggested that Congress should concentrate on 370 seats where it is in direct contest with the BJP.
Following his presentation, Sonia set up the four-member committee to study the proposals and suggest what all could be accepted. The panel would also give its view on whether to induct Kishor in the party.
Kishor's constant presence in 10-Janpath, Sonia's residence, during the meeting is seen as his growing influence on the party and an indication of his joining it. Earlier negotiations to join the party had ended in a deadlock after the party refused to accept his demands.
However, a section in Congress is not keen on inducting Kishor into the party. They want him to remain as a strategist but Kishor appears to have the support of the Gandhis, whose words matter the most.
Sources said that Kishor has not put up any conditions for joining the party and several leaders who were in the first meeting were of the view that he should join.
He had earlier held multiple rounds of talks with the top Congress leadership with an aim to enter the party. Recently, he renewed talks with the Congress amid speculation that a group of Gujarat Congress leaders were keen to rope him in. He is speculated to be the brain behind the recent efforts to rope in an influential Patidar leader Naresh Patel.
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