Viral video: Prashant Kishor mocks Congress, says his track record hit due to grand old party

New Delhi, May 31: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who was on the verge of joining Congress last month, has mocked the grand old party in a viral video which is doing rounds online. He is heard saying to people that his track record was hit after associating with the party for an election.

"From 2011-2021, I was associated with 11 elections and lost only one election that is with Congress in UP. Since then, I've decided that I will not work with them (Congress) as they have spoiled my track record," ANI quotes Kishor as saying in the video.

Reportedly, he made the comments in Vaishali in Bihar on Monday. However, Kishor is heard telling the group that he has respect for the party, but expressed displeasure over the existing system.

After working with the BJP in 2014 elections, he joined hands with Nitish Kumar for Bihar elections in 2015, with Congress in 2017 for Punjab and UP elections, with Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP in 2019, with AAP in 2020, with TMC and DMK in 2021. Except for the defeat in UP elections in 2017, he tasted victory wherever he went.

Last month, he had several rounds of meeting with Congress high command and was on the verge of joining the party, but the deal did not materalise due to multiple reasons. The 45-year-old wanted a free hand to bring big bang changes and not incremental ones, as the Congress was keen on. Also, the some section of the party was not happy with him for associating with multiple parties. "I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & 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, [sic]" he tweeted after the failed talks.

On much-hyped Chintan Shivir of Congress in Udaipur held in May, he commented that it failed to achieve anything "meaningful" other than giving more time for the party leadership. He took Twitter to view his opinion about the much-hyped brainstorming session and predicted a defeat for the grand old party in the upcoming state elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Kishor wrote, "I've been repeatedly asked to comment on the outcome of #UdaipurChintanShivir In my view, it failed to achieve anything meaningful other than prolonging the status-quo and giving some time to the #Congress leadership, at least till the impending electoral rout in Gujarat and HP! [sic]"