Sam Pitroda’s plans remained on paper. J.M. Lyngdoh failed to strike up even a working rapport. And Perfect Relations exited the Congress frame with a relationship that was anything but perfect.
Master poll strategist Prashant Kishor [PK] could consider himself better off—he can at least look back at a proven track record. First with Narendra Modi in 2014 and then with Nitish Kumar, Captain Amarinder Singh, Uddhav Thackeray, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, M.K. Stalin, and Mamata Banerjee. PK’s success and winning streak have not only been impressive but have given an inferiority complex to many in the political class.
Some Congress leaders, mostly among the old guard, who considered themselves Chanakyas of Indian Politics, are reportedly experiencing an intense feeling of inadequacy since substantive negotiations began between PK and the Gandhi trio—Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi. In a single stroke, the wise and wily developed a belief that Gandhis consider them way too deficient, or inferior, to Prashant Kishor. This is an issue that that will have its own repercussions within the grand old party, sooner than expected.
In 2016-17 too, anti-PK feelings had gained momentum when the poll strategist was helping Rahul Gandhi negotiate Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Ghulam Nabi Azad was looking after the party affairs of UP and Raj Babbar was UP Congress Committee chief. Actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar had told ABP News that Kishor was merely a “sound recordist”. Babbar had told anchor Dibang while participating in the channel’s weekly show ‘Press Conference’, “He (Prashant Kishor) is merely a sound recordist. When the voice pitch goes up or down, he adjusts it. He is not my leader… My leader is Rahul Gandhi.” The Congress-PK story fell flat as the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance found no traction at the grassroots and the BJP walked away with a stunning 312 of the 403 Assembly seats. The Congress had an all-time low tally of seven seats.
The Sam Pitroda Experience
The Congress has a history of treating strategy experts with scepticism, if not suspicion. Take the case of Pitroda. The technocrat used to be Rajiv Gandhi’s “eyes and ears” but some senior party leaders like Arjun Singh did not let him bring reforms in the organization.
In 1987, as the Bofors heat mounted, Pitroda had advised then Prime Minister to go on Doordarshan for informal interaction with a small group of people in the audience. The idea, which had the approval of Gopi Arora, the all-powerful bureaucrat in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Mani Shankar Aiyar, was based on the assumption that Rajiv would articulate his views better if he interacted with a small group in an informal setting.
A Sunday was fixed for the recording. But Singh and other senior Congress leaders got wind of it. As it turned out, Rajiv addressed a public rally at New Delhi’s Boat Club, the day he was supposed to record the television tête-à-tête, and delivered his Salim-Javed type “nani yaad dila denge” speech. Miffed by allegations of corruption, Rajiv had simply said, “Hum apne virodhiyon ko unki nani yaad dila denge,” triggering a huge uproar.
Pitroda’s plans to “modernize” the Congress organization remained on paper even as Rajiv faced electoral defeat. After Rajiv’s death in 1991, Pitroda left the country. By the time he returned, Sonia Gandhi had taken over as party president. Once again, he was commissioned to suggest “party reforms”. A report was presented to Sonia but Singh and others lobbied hard again to shelve the move.
During the UPA-I government, the Pitroda-headed National Knowledge Commission kept having skirmishes with Singh who was the HRD minister. There was a public spat when Singh introduced a job quota for Other Backward Classes. It is believed that privately, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had backed Pitroda for opposing reservations in central educational institutions but Sonia sided with Arjun Singh.
Anything but Perfect
When Rahul Gandhi became AICC general secretary, he hired the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME), run by former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, to establish inner-party democracy in the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.
Former adviser to Election Commission K.J. Rao interacted with the Congress leaders at all levels. But despite Rahul’s support, the Foundation and Rao failed to strike a rapport or even a functional relationship with the party. At times, they were even hooted in Rahul’s presence.
By the time the 2014 parliamentary elections were announced, several other former chief election commissioners—T.S. Krishnamurthy, N. Gopalaswami and S.Y. Quraishi—had associated themselves with FAME and were willing to examine the background of the Congress’ Lok Sabha probables. But when Ashok Chavan, Pawan Kumar Bansal, and Subodh Kant Sahay got nominations, FAME denied screening Congress nominees.
Perfect Relations, a well-known PR and communications firm, had handled the “Congress account” when Sitaram Kesri was AICC chief and Jitendra Prasada, the party’s vice-president, was “ushering” in a “corporate” culture.
This was the time when nattily dressed PR firm executives were seen hovering around 24 Akbar Road, checking “things”. One day, an enterprising representative who tried to find out the choice of snacks served to the media at the party’s regular 4pm briefing realised that a peon, whose job was to serve plates to the visiting journalists, used to decide the menu for that day.
Within days, a position paper by the consultancy agency was out. It described the Congress as “jaded”. A Hindi paper headline then screamed: “Kesri ki tulna mariyal ghoda se (Kesri being compared to haggard/jaded horse)”.
All hell broke loose even as Prasada tried to reason with the help of a Hindi-English dictionary. But Kesri did not touch water or rest till the contract with the PR agency had been terminated.
Kishor, who has made significant contributions in the victory march of Modi, Nitish, Mamata and many more, could be wary of such unforeseen circumstances. However, he can always draw some inspiration from life and times of Manmohan Singh, an apolitical economist who made a dramatic entry in politics in 1991 and went on to become the most illustrious non-Gandhi family politician, even overshadowing mentor P.V. Narasimha Rao and the likes of Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Natwar Singh etc.
The Congress may be at its lowest ebb now but palace intrigue is at its zenith at a time the party is looking at a leadership transition from Sonia to Rahul Gandhi.
The author is a senior journalist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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