Kanugolu was largely credited for shaping the Congress’ win in Karnataka and was later accorded Cupboard rank within the Siddaramaiah authorities.
Congress on Sunday gained 64 Meeting seats to type authorities within the BRS-dominated Telangana within the 119-member meeting. The celebration final yr had made a robust comeback in neighbouring Karnataka in Could. This yr, Congress’ victory was led by Sunil Kanugolu. However who’s he?
Sunil Kanugolu is a ballot strategist who plotted Congress’ wonderful turnaround in Telangana months after being the architect of the grand previous celebration’s return to energy in Karnataka. Kanugolu was largely credited for shaping the Congress’ win in Karnataka and was later accorded Cupboard rank within the Siddaramaiah authorities.
This time, Kanugolu together with PCC chief A Revanth Reddy fashioned a formidable pair to chalk out the Congress’ technique to tug down the Okay Chandrashekhar Rao-led BRS authorities that was eying a 3rd time period within the southern state.
Kanugolu had additionally made forays in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh following a directive from the celebration’s central management however regional satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath reportedly weren’t on the identical web page because the ballot strategist.
Forward of the Rajasthan elections, Kanugolu had made an evaluation in regards to the winnability of possible candidates however Gehlot reportedly didn’t comply with his strategies and introduced in Naresh Arora’s Designboxed to assemble the Congress authorities’s narrative within the run-up to the meeting polls.
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Sources say that the success of Kanugolu in Karnataka and Telangana was the results of the free hand given to him and permitting his group to work freely. Kanugolu, who hails from Karnataka and is in his early 40s, has been thought of largely because the mind behind the Congress’ narrative in Karnataka with the ‘PayCM’ marketing campaign in opposition to the BJP. Within the run-up to the polls in Telangana, he highlighted the alleged corruption of the Okay Chandrashekhar Rao dispensation as a part of Congress’ marketing campaign that appeared to have struck a chord with the individuals.
The campaigns run by the Congress in Karnataka and Telangana have been very comparable as each highlighted the alleged graft of the ruling dispensation and projected welfare ensures that appeared to have struck an on the spot reference to the general public.
Curiously, Kanugolu has additionally been concerned in a number of BJP ballot campaigns previously. In 2018, he labored with the BJP in Karnataka and the celebration managed to change into the only largest celebration with 104 seats.
He had additionally labored on Narendra Modi’s marketing campaign in 2014, in addition to the celebration’s political campaigns in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Kanugolu, a former advisor with McKinsey, was additionally related to DMK chief MK Stalin and oversaw the celebration’s ‘Namakku Naame’ (we’re for ourselves) marketing campaign in the course of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2021, he additionally labored with AIADMK in opposition to the DMK and led the celebration to win 75 seats within the Tamil Nadu meeting elections. Kanugolu had joined the Congress final yr and labored intently with the Karnataka marketing campaign.
He’s additionally credited with strategising Rahul Gandhi’s cross-country ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir final yr. Having delivered Karnataka and Telangana to the Congress, Kanugolu is prone to be given extra obligations by the celebration within the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
