Congress’ election strategist Sunil Kanugolu, who is credited for the party’s wins in Karnataka and Telangana Assembly elections, will not be part of the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign, NDTV reported citing sources.

While Kanugolu was earlier part of the Congress ‘Task Force 2024’, he is now reportedly going to focus on two states- Haryana and Maharashtra- which are headed to Assembly elections later in the year.

Apparently, he is being redeployed because of the presence of his teams in these two states. However, a senior Congress leader acknowledged his absence from the Lok Sabha campaign as a “slight setback”.

Notably, Kanugolu was not an active part of the election campaign in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan due to the respective leaders’ stubbornness against his suggestions. Consequently, Congress faced defeat in both states.

This fact highlights his importance. However, Congress believes that he will be more useful in Haryana and Maharashtra, where Congress intends to snatch power from the BJP.

It is worth mentioning that Kanugolu will be the second poll strategist after Prashant Kishor to move away from Congress’ Lok Sabha campaign. Kishor declined Sonia Gandhi’s invitation in April 2022.