Why Congress-Prashant Kishor Talks Failed Again: The Inside Scoop

The Congress was reluctant to give its reins to an outsider from the get-go and Prashant Kishor was hesitant about his hands being tied, sources said.

It wasn't Telangana. It wasn't ideology. Political strategist Prashant Kishor's latest round of talks with the Congress on changing the 137-year-old party's decrepit fortunes fell through on account of the most obvious of stalemates, sources have told NDTV. Following a presentation & discussions with Sh. Prashant Kishor, Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party. 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.

While the 45-year-old wanted a free hand to bring in sweeping changes and play the role of a disruptor, the Congress leadership ultimately found itself wary of a complete overhaul, preferring incremental changes instead, sources in the Congress said.

However, unlike last year when similar talks hit a wall, this time, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi kept senior party leaders in the loop, acted on their advice and has decided to hold them accountable for losses and victories in future elections, they added.

They firmly rejected suggestions that a deal fizzled because of Prashant Kishor's association with other parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao or "KCR" which signed up his political consultancy group I-PAC just two days ago for next year's elections.