New Delhi, April 19 : Political strategist Prashant Kishor met Congress President Sonia Gandhi for a third time on Tuesday, days after he presented a roadmap for the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Congress leaders including A K Antony, Kamal Nath, Ambika Soni, Digvijay Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh were among those present in the meeting. Among other things, Kishor has asked Congress to focus on 370 Lok Sabha seats where the party has the best chances of winning. Details of the seats were not given. Kishor feels the Congress should go solo in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha while in states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra it should ally with like-minded parties. The roadmap presented by Kishor is being discussed by party leaders. The upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections are also in focus. In December 2021, Kishor had said the Congress lost more than 90 per cent of elections in the last 10 years and its leadership is “not the divine right” of an individual. The latest meetings followed embarrassing defeats faced by the party in five states: Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. The Congress is soon going to hold a brainstorming camp, likely to be held in Udaipur in Rajasthan in May 14-16. Over 700 Congress leaders are expected to attend it. AO MR
