Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Thursday hit out at Congress over the issue of opposition leadership. He said that it is not the "divine right of an individual" when the party has lost most of the elections it contested in the last decade.
"The IDEA and SPACE that #Congress represents is vital for a strong opposition. But Congress' leadership is not the DIVINE RIGHT of an individual especially, when the party has lost more than 90% elections in the last 10 years. Let opposition leadership be decided Democratically," Prashant Kishor tweeted.
His comments come a day after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) no longer exists.
Notably, the election strategist was roped in by Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021 resulting in a landslide victory.
However, Mamata's remarks evoked a strong response from the Congress party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi. At an event in Mumbai, the TMC chief said if all the regional parties come together then defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be very easy.
Trinamool Congress was once part of the United Progressive Alliance, an alliance of several parties including Congress that remained in power at the Centre for 10 years from 2004 to 2014 when the BJP came to power.
After the TMC's landslide victory in West Bengal Assembly polls held earlier this year, Mamata is continuously pitching for a strong alternative at the national level but indirectly taking on Congress.
In a seeming attempt at pan-national expansion or alliance with "like minded-parties" ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, she has recently visited Delhi and Mumbai where she held a series of meetings with top leaders of various political outfits. However, she didn't meet Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi during her last visit.
Kishor had taken potshots at the Congress two months ago and said that those looking for a quick revival of the opposition led by the grand old party following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are in for a big disappointment as there are no quick-fix solutions to its "deep-rooted problems".
Kishor and his I-PAC team has been working for Trinamool Congress since the assembly poll in West Bengal and is presently working on devising strategies in expanding the party nationally.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
