In Karnataka’s ‘Kurukshetra’, five ‘Pandavas’ of Congress together defeated BJP

Destroying the dominance of BJP and JDS, Congress karnataka assembly election Has registered a one-sided victory in 2023. It is also being seen as a great comeback for the Congress which lost badly in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

With aggressive campaigning and precise strategy, Congress has won around 140 seats, breaking all records after 2004. Where the Congress put Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul, Priyanka, DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah on the front for campaigning.

At the same time, there were 5 such leaders, who were preparing the strategy of victory from behind the scenes. As part of the strategy, a campaign against corruption was launched, which was considered the most effective in the entire election. These election strategists of Congress were also at the forefront of counter-attacking.

Because of the strong strategy, the Congress did not let the game slip in the last minute and stuck to the issues. In this story, we know about these 5 strategists who played an important role in making Congress win…

1. Randeep Singh Surjewala- In the year 2020, Congress appointed Randeep Singh Surjewala as the general secretary in-charge of Karnataka in place of KC Venugopal. At that time, after the formation of the government in Karnataka, the internal factionalism within the Congress was at its peak.

Surjewala was the first to finish it after becoming in-charge. Its glimpse was also seen in the elections after the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Surjewala kept Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar faction together everywhere. The fight for ticket distribution was also resolved behind closed doors.

During the elections, Surjewala keeps giving the message of solidarity by sharing pictures of both of them from time to time. This strategy of Surjewala worked.

Apart from preparing the strategy, Surjewala remains the most attacking BJP. He also maintains a front for the Karnataka Congress on media and social media.

Born in Chandigarh, 55-year-old Surjewala first hit the headlines in 1996 when he defeated incumbent chief minister Om Prakash Chautala from the Narwana seat.

Surjewala has been MLA for 4 times in Haryana Vidhansabha. In 2022, the Congress sent him to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. Surjewala has also been in charge of Congress media.

Surjewala has also been the President of the Youth Congress from 2000-2005. Surjewala, who has studied law, has also been the minister of important departments like Energy and PWD in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda cabinet.

2. MB Patil- This time the election campaign of Congress was aggressive. Congress did many experiments in the election campaign. In the last phase, Rahul Gandhi was seen talking to people in buses, which was discussed a lot.

This time Congress focused on door to door campaign, public meeting and road show. Sonia Gandhi’s rally was also organized at the last moment. Two prominent local leaders, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, were assigned zone-wise campaigns.

Shivakumar was given the command of Bengaluru and Old Mysore zones, while Siddaramaiah remained in Kalyan Karnataka and Central Karnataka. The Congress has got the benefit of this and has won big in these areas.

MB Patil’s strategy was working behind the aggressive and sharp campaign of the Congress. Mallegowda Basanagouda Patil (MB Patil), a veteran Congress leader from the Lingayat community, is the chairman of the campaign committee.

Along with the campaign, Patil had got the task of helping the leaders of other parties as well. It was Patil who did the work of negotiation with former CM Jagadish Shettar and played a big role in bringing him to Congress.

Patil has been the minister of important departments like Home, Water Resources in the Government of Karnataka. He has also been a member of the Lok Sabha from 1998 to 1999. Patil started his political career in 1991.

Patil, a 5-time MLA in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, has been a minister in the Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy governments. He is also considered close to Siddaramaiah within the party. For this reason, he got an important department like Home in the Kumaraswamy government.

MB Patil, who studied engineering, has got a political legacy. His father BM Patil was a prominent politician of Karnataka.

3. Sunil Kanugolu- Congress’s election strategist at all India level, Sunil Kanugolu, also camped in Karnataka till the entire election. Kanugolu and his team played a major role in preparing the survey, campaign, candidate selection and winning strategy.

Kanugolu’s team prepared its report on the basis of feedback on all the seats, which made it easier to strategize for victory. Kanugolu and his team also prepared a strategy to capitalize on the anti-incumbency. Apart from this, the making of Manifesto also played a major role.

At the end of the election campaign, the Congress had published the rate card of the BJP government in the newspapers. Kanugolu’s strategy was also behind this idea.

Kanugolu returned to India in 2009 after pursuing MBA from America. A few years later, he joined Narendra Modi. Here Prashant Kishor’s team joined Citizen for Accountable Governance (CAG).

Kanugolu’s contact even after Kishor broke ties with BJP Narendra Modi keeping up with. He was made the head of the Association of Brilliant Minds, which works to formulate strategy for the BJP.

Kanugolu prepared the election strategy for BJP in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. The result was favorable and there was a lot of discussion about Kanugolu. After this Kanugolu was associated with several parties as a strategist.

Kanugolu has made a strategy for Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab elections 2022. According to political experts, after talks with Prashant Kishor could not be done in 2022, the Congress contacted Kanugolu.

Kanugolu is also a member of the 2024 Task Force of the Congress. This force will work to prepare a strategy for the 2024 elections.

4. Shashikant Senthil- The Congress had set up a war room in Bengaluru to carry out its strategy on each seat in the Karnataka elections. This war room of Congress used to make strategy as well as coordinate.

It was through the war room that the campaign going on in each seat was reviewed and its feedback report was handed over to the big leaders, so that the strategy could be further strengthened.

Fact checking people were also deployed in the war room of Karnataka Congress, so that statements and speeches of BJP leaders could be countered immediately. Along with this, the helpline in the war room was also working 24×7, so that the problems of the candidates posted in the field could be resolved immediately.

The Congress had given the charge of the war room to its leader and former IAS officer Shashikant Senthil. Senthil was a 2009 batch officer of the Karnataka cadre. In 2019, he resigned against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Senthil was the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada at the time of his resignation. In 2020, he took Congress membership in Tamil Nadu in front of state in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao. In July 2022, the Congress declared Senthil as the war room in-charge for the Karnataka elections.

44-year-old Senthil is originally from Tamil Nadu. While joining the Congress, Senthil had told reporters that the BJP was dividing people in Karnataka in the name of Hindutva, so he quit his IAS job.

The Congress had deployed Suraj Hegde and Mehroz Khan to assist Senthil in the war room. Hegde is posted as Vice President and Mehroz as General Secretary in Karnataka Congress.

5. Yes God- This time in the Karnataka elections, the manifesto of the Congress was in a lot of headlines. This 62-page manifesto played an effective role in making the contest two-sided. The promise of ban on Bajrang Dal was beneficial for the Congress and the party got the united vote of the Muslims.

Along with the ban on Bajrang Dal, there was a lot of discussion about the 5 guarantees of the Congress manifesto. After the victory, Rahul Gandhi talked about implementing it immediately. Senior Karnataka Congress leader G. Parameshwara played a big role in making the manifesto. Parameshwara is the chairman of the Manifesto Committee.

G Parameshwara, who stays away from political limelight, has been the President of Karnataka Congress and former Deputy CM. Parmeshwar, who did his PhD in Agriculture, became an MLA for the first time in 1989.

In 1992, in the government of Veerappa Moily, he was made the minister of insect-silk department. In 1999, he was promoted in SM Krishna’s government and made the Minister of Higher Education Department.

In 2015, in Siddaramaiah’s government, Parameshwara got an important department like Home. In 2018, if Congress could not come to power on its own, then it entered into an agreement with JDS. Under the agreement, Kumaraswamy became the Chief Minister and Parameshwara the Deputy Chief Minister.

Speculations are being made that Parameshwara will get a bigger post this time too. If he is not included in the cabinet, he can become the speaker of the assembly.