Hype? ‘The’ strategist or ‘A’ strategist, how long can Prashant Kishor hold the negative glue together

New Delhi, July 15: The meeting between political strategist, Prashant Kishor and Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi sparked a lot of buzz. Several media houses even reported that Kishor is likely to join the Congress and this could help the party in the upcoming elections.

Has an innocuous episode become a breaking news for all the media houses. Was the meeting being played out of proportions. OneIndia's Ajay Joseph and Vicky Nanjappa caught up with one of India's leading psephologists Dr. Sandeep Shastri to discuss the issue at length.

Dr. Shastri was of the view that the Kishore-Rahul Gandhi meeting should not be seen in isolation. For sometime,. He has been part of the enterprise to bring the non-BJP parties together.

I would not look at this meeting in isolation. For sometime now, Kishor has been part of the enterprise of getting the non-BJP parties together. He is a close advisor to a lot of Congress chief ministers. Is this about the crisis in Punjab. It is too early to talk about why this meeting took place, Dr. Shastri also said.

On being asked if Kishor could change the fading fortunes of the Congress, Dr. Shastri said that for any party the internal strategy is important. The Congress since 2014 has not been in a recovery mode. The Congress has adopted the Ostrich like posture of digging its head in the sand and saying nothing is wrong, Dr. Shastri also says.

He also says that he is not sure if Kishor can do anything much if the Congress leadership is unwilling to hold the bull by its horns. It has to deal with the internal rumblings and the key strategy would have to be to revive from within.

Dr. Shastri also asks, how long can a negative glue hold itself together. Simply attacking the government will not help. Kishor is 'A' political strategist, not 'The' political strategist. He is trying to bring together parties opposed to the BJP. Bringing them together is not difficult, keeping them together is, Dr. Sandeep Shastri also says.