There is reservation about the execution of Mr Kishor's plan to rejuvenate the Congress.
The long-awaited decision from the Congress on election strategist Prashant Kishor's entry to the party and his Mission 2024 to rejuvenate it, did not materialise today -- a day after IPAC, the organisation he led, signed up Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the coming assembly elections in the state. Signing up rival parties has been a strict no-no from the special committee deliberating on Mr Kishor's entry, and while the election strategist has formally dissociated from IPAC, he is widely known to be privy to the decisions of the organisation that he led for nearly a decade.
Party sources told NDTV that the Committee is divided on Mr Kishor's entry, which some see as necessary in view of the party's inexorable downward spiral. While those in favour include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Ambika Soni, the naysayers are Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh. KC Venugopal and AK Antony marshal points both for and against and their personal views are not yet known.
Sources indicated that the current divide is on allowing Mr Kishor a free hand to start his own set-up and change things within the party. There is also reservation about the execution of his plan -- the concerns are that it might overlap with his other interests vis-a-vis other parties.
Mr Kishor has been political advisor to Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Andhra Pradesh counterpart Jagan Mohan Reddy, the chief of YSR Congress. Both parties are old rivals of the Congress in the states.
Mr Kishor's plans for rejuvenation of the party -- at least the two-year-old one that has been leaked to the public -- includes a policy of leadership revamp under which all but mass leaders have been sidelined in terms of giving direction to the party and its day-to-day leadership.
This is likely to include most of the leaders currently in the Working Committee, which is the party's highest decision-making body.
Those in favour of Mr Kishor's entry, are of the opinion that it would expose the faultlines in the Congress leadership and how a key "coterie" operates.
Both sides, however, unanimously agree that nothing can be done without the express approval and support of the Congress president.
Sources in the committee today said Mrs Gandhi had a separate meeting with Kamal Nath and she is expected to take a decision irrespective of the lack of consensus.