Karnataka Election 2023 Results: Meet Sunil Kanugolu, former BJP poll strategist behind Congress' resurgence

Earlier, Kanugolu had worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the BJP's campaign. He later started strategising campaigns for the Congress. He even contributed to Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Team Newsable

First Published May 13, 2023, 4:03 PM IST

The Indian National Congress (INC) roped in poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu, a former associate of Prashant Kishor, to help it shape its campaign Assembly elections in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, where the government led by the grand old party was ousted from power by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Speaking to a news agency, senior journalist and a visiting person with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Rasheed Kidwai said, "A professional strategist's help comes handy in preparing for Assembly polls. Madhya Pradesh's intrinsic political situation, including caste equations, make the task more complicated. Perhaps the Congress should build its own election management mechanism."

Karnataka Election 2023 Results: CM Bommai announces resignation from CM post after BJP heads for defeat

For the upcoming elections in Madhya Pradesh, Kanugolu will play a key role in shaping the party's campaign. He had worked for the BJP in UP and is said to have played a key role in the resounding victory of Yogi Adityanath in 2017.

In the 2018 MP Assembly elections, the Congress had emerged as the largest party by winning 114 seats in the 230-member House, while the BJP won 109 seats.

Karnataka Election 2023 Results: Full list of winners from Bengaluru

In Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai virtually conceded party's defeat and said the party had not been able to make the mark despite a lot of effort put in by everyone, including the prime minister and workers of the party".

The Congress was winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in the state, comfortably over the magic number of 113, and the BJP in 64, according to latest trends on the Election Commission website. The JD(S), which was hoping to be kingmaker, was leading in 20 seats.

With a much-needed victory tantalisingly close in the crucial southern state, celebrations broke out at the opposition Congress headquarters in Bengaluru and Delhi as party workers danced to drumbeats and burst firecrackers.

Karnataka Election Results 2023: JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy concedes defeat; Congratulates new govt

Last Updated May 13, 2023, 4:03 PM IST