NEW DELHI: Hours after Prashant Kishor turned down Congress’ offer to join the party, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu met the poll strategist and shared a selfie of them on Twitter.
Showing enthusiasm about meeting his old friend, the former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president tweeted, “Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK… Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best!!!”
Sidhu, who shares a sweet and sour relationship with party high-command, posted the picture just hours after Kishor said that Congress needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems.
“I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the EAG (Empowered Action Group) and take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,” Kishor had tweeted earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala announced that following a presentation and discussions with Kishor, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has constituted an Empowered Action Group 2024 and invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. “He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestions given to the party,” Surjewala said.
The Congress has started talks with Kishor recently after the Grand Old Party suffered a debacle in recently concluded assembly polls in five states of Punjab, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa.
He met Sonia Gandhi on April 16 and also gave presentations to several top leaders in a series of meetings to revive its fortunes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Kishor had earlier successfully carried the party’s campaign in Punjab during the 2017 assembly polls. But in Uttar Pradesh, the party failed despite Kishor designing the party’s campaign.