Election strategist Prashant Kishor occupies a paradoxical space in national politics. While Kishor has helped a number of opposition figures win state polls against the BJP and its allies, he has also been accused of attempting to weaken the Congress given his work with Mamata Banerjee's TMC.
Despite this, Kishor has reiterated he wants to form an opposition front for the 2024 Parliament elections.
Kishor told NDTV in an interview on Monday that the BJP could be defeated in 2024, irrespective of the results of next month's assembly polls in five states. “It is quite possible that BJP wins everything in this round and still go on to lose 2024. In 2012, UP was won by SP (Samajwadi Party), Uttarakhand by Congress, Manipur by Congress, Punjab by Akalis, but the result in 2014 was very different,” Kishor told NDTV.
Kishor referred to the spread of Lok Sabha seats to show how the BJP could be beaten. “If you take Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala—roughly 200 [Lok Sabha] seats—even at the peak of their popularity, the BJP has been able to win only 50-odd seats. In the remaining 350 seats, the BJP is sweeping everything,” Kishor told NDTV.
He argued that if the Congress or an alliance of parties could “realign themselves, and reboot their resources and strategy,” they could reach “250-260 even with the present numbers”. He explained the opposition parties needed to win “100 seats in the north and west”.
However, Kishor cautioned that opposition parties merely coming together would not be enough. “You need to have the narrative and a coherent outfit,” Kishor told NDTV.
He noted the BJP had been presenting a “very formidable narrative” centred on Hindutva, hyper-nationalism and public welfare. Kishor argued the opposition needed to outdo the BJP in at least two of these areas.
No leap of faith to join Congress?
Interestingly, Kishor also told NDTV that he had talked to the Congress leadership for two years to team up. He claimed he spent five months after the West Bengal assembly polls in talks with the Congress.
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“Coming together required a leap of faith from both sides and for various reasons we could not take that leap of faith. For example, on my side, I had a bad experience working with them on UP (2017 elections). And hence I was very sceptical. I did not want to get in, have my hands tied,” Kishor said.
Kishor argued the Congress needed a revamp to take on the BJP. He told NDTV, “I admire the Congress as an institution. The idea and space it represents, without it, an effective opposition is not possible. However, that does not mean it will have to be the current Congress under the current leadership.”
