New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi had invited poll strategist Prashant Kishor to join the party and be a part of its ‘Empowered Action Group-2024’ to evolve a strategy for the general elections but he has declined the offer, the party said.Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Tuesday that the party appreciates his efforts and suggestions.Kishor was keen to join the Congress and had desired to do so without any expectations. He had also made a presentation to the party on which its top leaders deliberated upon during the last week.“Following a presentation and discussions with Prashant Kishor, the Congress president constituted the Empowered Action Group-2024 and invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestions given to the party,” Surjewala said on Twitter.Kishor too tweeted that he turned down the Congress’s “generous offer”. “In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,” he said.I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections.In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) April 26, 2022Sources said the reason for his not joining the Congress was the pact signed by his company I-PAC with TRS for the Telangana assembly elections and that was viewed by the Congress leadership as conflict of interest.Kishor has been engaged by Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal as well as Nitish Kumar’s JD-U in Bihar for election management.(With PTI inputs)
