PK, as he is popularly known, is still the adviser to the Trinamool Congress and his consultancy outfit I-PACK is working with Mamata in Bengal to devise strategy for the municipal and corporation elections which are due but have been postponed due to the continuing pandemic. West Bengal will also witness seven by elections including one in Bhowanipore where the Chief Minister will be the candidate. Mamata has to enter the assembly as an elected legislator by November 5 this year, otherwise, she has to resign from her chief ministership.

PK’s team is already working in Bengal and all assessments made by PK suggest that Trinamool is presently comfortably placed as against the faction-ridden BJP in the state and PK may very well give enough time with national opposition political parties in working on a viable strategy both short term and long term to navigate the opposition to victory in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

There is some speculation in media about PK officially joining the Congress. My guess is he may not do so officially but for all practical purposes, the poll strategist will be advising the Congress Party which is the main opposition party in the country facing the electoral battle against the BJP as the major party in most of the assembly elections. There cannot be any anti-BJP opposition front without the Congress and this is accepted by most of the opposition leaders including Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and the Left, but who will be the leader that can be decided only after the Lok Sabha elections are over.

PK himself is reported to be of the view that the opposition should not bother about the potential PM candidate now, the present task is to step by step build a solid alternative to the BJP and defeat the BJP led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is itself a formidable task despite all the latest indications of the PM’s popularity rating dipping.PK worked with Modi before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and he knows how innovative Modi is and he can package and repackage his strategy based on the requirements of ground reality. Modi like Mamata also has the uncanny power to assess the pulse of the people. Modi has taken his defeat in West Bengal very personally and he is not ready to afford any such defeat in the state elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. PM is acting as commander in chief in the battle of UP and he believes the adage - there is nothing unfair in love and war.

PK’s present advantage is that he had talked to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in person and with Sonia Gandhi through video calls, from a position of strength. He brought comfortable victory to his clients Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin very recently and now he is talking to the Congress with which he had association in Uttar Pradesh for 2017 assembly elections, but it was a disaster as BJP achieved victory with a massive majority.

In 2017 assembly elections, the Congress overestimated its support base and rejected many of the suggestions given by PK. Now if PK finally takes up position as strategist for Congress till the Lok Sabha poll, it is expected he will help in working out a plan for Uttar Pradesh which is based on ground reality and the major party in UP Samajwadi Party gets interested in having some understanding with the Congress. Right now, SP is organisationally the best prepared opposition party in UP to meet the BJP challenge and SP taking into account its experience with the Congress in 2017is refusing to have any alliance with the Congress and instead trying to form alliance with smaller parties of the state.

PK has to play his role in revitalizing the Congress organization in UP in consultations with the general secretary in charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but at the same time he has to work for bringing about some understanding with the major party in the state SP. This may not be possible now but if the organisational rejuvenation in UP Congress starts and some results are visible, the ground may be ready for some talks on even limited understanding, if full is not possible. Akhilesh Yadav has good equation with Priyanka and some sort of alliance can be considered by SP at a later date but for that the Congress Party has to be realistic about its strength. Certainly PK, with his new stature, can play a role in facilitating the process.

For PK, as also the entire opposition, the defeat of BJP in U.P. assembly polls is of supreme importance in creating an environment for an alternative to Narendra Modi and this should be the primary task of PK as he takes up his new assignment. Advising the Congress in other four states Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur will be easier since the Congress is the main party of opposition in these states. The Congress has a major responsibility to show that the party can take up the challenge of BJP in the coming assembly elections and PK can help in imparting in the 137 year old party that killer instinct which is needed to defeat leaders like Yogi Adityanath and also Narendra Modi. (IPA Service)