'Old friends' Prashant Kishor & Sidhu meet after strategist snubs Congress; pose for pic

Hours after Prashant Kishor turned down Congress' offer to join the party, Navjot Singh Sidhu shared a picture of the pair of 'old friends' having a meeting. Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the recently ousted Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President shared the picture with the poll strategist and gushed about the meeting and their relationship.

'Old wine, Old gold and Old friends, still the best !!!' the cricketer-turned-politician, who has been sharing a sweet and sour relationship with Congress high-command, captioned the picture hours after Kishor snubbed the party and gave it some advice that goes beyond him. While confirming his decision of not joining the party, Prashant Kishor expressed his 'humble opinion', as per which, more than his joining, Congress needs 'leadership & collective will' to fix some of the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.

The poll strategist's declining the offer of the grand old party comes after the members expressed their wariness of Kishor's I-PAC's association with rival parties, the recent one being with TRS. Besides TRS in Telangana, I-PAC has also associated with other parties that are in direct competition with Congress like YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. 

Prashant Kishor draws blueprint for Congress for 2024 polls 

Kishor's declining the offer is a major jolt for Congress as the poll strategist had presented 'a detailed blueprint' for the 2024 polls to party president Sonia Gandhi. An eight-member committee, set up by Sonia Gandhi, had then submitted its report by way of recommendation. The committee comprising Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, KC Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, and Mukul Wasnik, in its recommendation said, “Most of the suggestions from Prashant Kishor have been found to be practical and useful."

In the past, Prashant Kishor has worked with the Congress party for the 2017 Punjab Assembly Election. While the poll strategist was tasked with Congress' election campaign for the 2022 polls, he resigned from this post on August 5 citing that he wanted to take a 'temporary break' from an active role in public life.