‘Problem with Rahul Gandhi…’: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor says BJP not going anywhere

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not going anywhere and will continue to be the centre of Indian polity for many decades, poll strategist Prashant Kishor has said. He also cautioned against the notion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be ousted from power because of public anger. “Maybe they will throw away Modi but BJP is not going anywhere. They are going to be here, they are to fight it out for the next many decades. It’s not going in a hurry,” Kishor was heard saying in a clip that was posted to Twitter by BJP’s Ajay Sehrawat.

“That is where the problem lies with Rahul Gandhi probably,” Kishor said, adding the Congress leader, too, thought that it’s just a matter of time before people reject Modi. “That’s not happening,” he commented.

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“Whether they win, whether they lose, like it was for the first 40 years for Congress, BJP is going nowhere. Once you secure 30 per cent plus votes at the India-level you are not going away in a hurry,” Kishore said at an event in Goa on Wednesday.

Sehrawat tweeted that Prashant Kishor’s acknowledgement of BJP’s firm standing in Indian politics was “what Amit Shah Ji declared way too earlier.”

Kishor, who is credited with strategising the BJP’s resounding victory in the 2014 General Elections, was roped in by Mamata Banerjee -led Trinamool Congress (TMC) as it retained power in the April-May West Bengal elections.

Media reports in July suggested Kishor was in talks with the Gandhis for helping the Congress take on the BJP at the national stage. The negotiations didn’t proceed far due to Kishor’s insistence on a “free hand to overhaul the party,” according to NDTV.

Earlier this month, Kishor pointed at “deep-rooted” problems and “structural weakness” in the Congress that cannot be addressed with “quick fix solutions.”