Some important but elusive individuals are working 24×7 for the Congress to churn out, what now is being seen as an aggressive campaign. A lot of back-end work is being done by some trusted lieutenants of Rahul Gandhi who are brewing a lethal concoction of anti-BJP parties, Patidar & Dalit leaders, and staging well-attended rallies for the Congress Party.

On such elusive but highly regarded political strategist is Prashant Kishor, who has been credited with revolutionizing Election Campaigning in India. A Public Health Expert with years of working experience with the United Nations, Kishor’s first major political assignment was to help Narendra Modi get re-elected as CM of Gujarat in 2012 and then helping Modi-led BJP win 2014 Lok Sabha election with an absolute majority.

Kishor’s fallout with Modi came when his nonprofit front Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), whose backroom work powered Modi to victory, was sidelined by the political outfit post its historic win. Since then Kishor has worked for all anti-BJP establishments to defeat the party he was once a star of.

Prashant Kishor is credited for the victory of the “Grand Alliance” in Bihar where it routed the BJP’s alliance 178–58 in 2015 Bihar assembly election. However, he failed miserably for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh but delivered a historic win for the Congress in Punjab, where the party secured it’s biggest ever majority since Independence.

Kishor now has been given the responsibility of Gujarat assembly election and he has been working on the ground to feel the pulse of the common people. Prashant Kishor’s team has actively interacted with the people at the root level, probed what the mindset of the people is and worked towards finding the ground realities. A detailed presentation is being prepared to present this report to the Congress Vice President.

If top Congress sources are to be believed Prashant Kishor and his team comprising of 20 members have been divided into smaller groups of 5 people each, who are visiting 4 different zones to feel the pulse of the people. The teams will also be covering major cities and rural areas with significant voter strength. The team has also been given the task to evaluate the potential candidates for each of the seat. It has been entrusted with the task of conducting these cell surveys before the final selection of candidates is done especially for seats in urban areas which are considered weak by the Congress.

The other important person in the Gujarat election strategy for the Congress is the old warhorse, Ahmed Patel, who is also the most trusted person by the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. Patel has a Gujarat connection, as he recently won the Rajya Sabha seat from the state, after a bitterly fought election that caused much discomfort to the BJP, especially Amit Shah who was left red-faced because he had used every trick in the book to ensure Ahmed Patel’s defeat.

It is not difficult to understand BJP’s dislike for Ahmed Patel after the humiliation they faced at his last-minute victory. Ahmed Patel is the key figure in Rahul Gandhi’s plan for a Gujarat and the Congress circles are abound with whispers of him being the CM candidate in case of victory. BJP thus has been sharpening his attack on Ahmed Patel, the latest being directly linking him to the two arrested Islamic State suspects.

The ultimate result of the efforts of the two important pillars for Congress victory in Gujarat will be out on December 18 but their work and organizational ability is something that the Congress party must be proud of. If nothing else, atleast they have been able to portray Rahul Gandhi as an astute political figure, who knows his agenda well and helped the Congress in keeping its flock together to give BJP a tough fight in the coming assembly elections.