Congress ropes in poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu to steer Karnataka poll campaign

Sunil Kanugolu, a former associate of poll strategist Prashant Kishor, is the Congress party's choice to steer its campaign in Karnataka for the Assembly polls next year and, perhaps the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, too.  

The US-educated former consultant with Mckinsey, Kanugolu hails from Ballari in Karnataka and will be spearheading the campaign to help the state Congress take on the ruling BJP. The decision to rope in Sunil's company, Mindshare Analytics, was taken during an AICC meeting held in Delhi, recently.  

Sunil has vast experience of working with both national and regional parties. On his return to India, Sunil joined Kishor's Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) in Gandhinagar in Gujarat and worked for the victory of Narendra Modi in the 2014 general elections. After parting ways with Kishor, he was hired by the DMK in Tamil Nadu to boost the image of M.K. Stalin ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections. Though DMK lost to AIADMK by a small margin, Kanugolu worked with the regional party once again in the 2019  Lok Sabha elections, and helped the party bag 39 out of the 40 seats.  

In 2016, Kanugolu, who kept a low-profile, was picked by Amit Shah to lead the BJP's war room named the Association of Billion Minds (ABM). Kanugolu played a major role in the party's victory in UP in 2017 that saw Yogi Adityanath become the chief minister. Subsequently, the saffron party won the Uttarakhand,  Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat elections.  

In 2020, Kanugolu moved away from DMK after Stalin chose to work with Prashant Kishor for the 2021 Assembly elections. However,  he was hired by then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi Palaniswami to step up AIADMK's  election campaign. 

While Kanugolu is credited for his impactful campaign strategies  "Nammakku Naame" campaign in 2016 and the image makeover of Stalin, he also led "Gal Punjab di" and other poll campaigns for Shiromani Akali Dal highlighting its achievements during its rule between 2007 and 2017.  

Interestingly,  Kanugolu who worked with the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti, will now be working for the Congress party in the same state.  

In Karnataka, Kanugolu might have to evolve a poll strategy that can dwarf both the ruling BJP and the arch-rival JD(S).  Kanugolu's task will be multi-pronged as the Congress is in the opposition in the state and is riddled with many challenges—from infighting to power tussle between senior leaders to factionalism. 

According to party sources, the poll campaign—both online and offline—would begin only after the field teams get the ground report from each of the 224 Assembly constituencies. 

"The candidate selection will be based on the list drawn up by the strategists based on the feedback collected by the field teams and following deliberations with the state unit," said a senior Congress leader.