Election strategist Prashant Kishor's explosive tweet today-- declining the Congress offer to join -- was followed shortly after by a tweet from party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. The cricketer-turned-politician posted a picture of himself with Mr Kishor, captioning it "Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK... Old wine , Old gold and Old friends still the best !!!". Sources close to Mr Sidhu said the meeting took place in Delhi.
Mr Sidhu had earlier spoken of his multiple meetings with the elecion strategist, who was trying to get him to join the Congress while crafting the party's campaign ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab.
"Prashant Kishor met me at least 60 times asking me to join the Congress," he told NDTV."PK said the Congress won't get over 30-35 seats. If you (Sidhu) come, there will be a swing of 7-8 per cent," he said.
"Then Bhai rang me up," he added, refering to Rahul Gandhi, saying he managed to persuade him to join the party.
Mr Sidhu had to step down from the post of the state party chief after the Congress's crushing defeat to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in the recently concluded assembly elections in Punjab.
Mr Kishor today categorically rejected the Congress offer to join the party with a slot on its internal strategy team. The offer made it clear that the party's internal reservations about his proposed sweeping reforms prevailed and he would not be given a free hand to carry them out.
His tweet declining the Congress offer included some sharp remarks. "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 posted.
The Congress had made its position clear on Friday – after a series of meetings where Mr Kishor made detailed presentations about his plans. Several leaders who had reservations about his entry, including veteran leader Digvijaya Singh, had acknowledged the plans to be exhaustive and workable.
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