Congress’s elusive poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu in spotlight as KCR draws TPCC fire over police raid

The TPCC has hit out at CM KCR over this raid, with the state Congress chief and MP, K Revanth Reddy, urging the party workers to burn effigies of KCR and stage protests in all Mandals across the state on Wednesday.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s media department head Pawan Khera, accompanied by Revanth Reddy, told a press conference in Delhi that “The TRS government in Telangana is throttling democracy in the state. What is the difference between Narendra Modi and KCR? When it comes to his own daughter (K Kavitha) in the Delhi liquor scam, KCR demands from the CBI…give me this paper, show me that notice…only then will my daughter be interrogated.”

Khera alleged, “KCR is throttling democracy in his own state…taking action against the Congress for the simple reason that the Congress is raising the issues of the common people of Telangana. Without any paper, warrant, they raided the war room of our party. Sunil Kanugolu, who is a member of the national task force of the AICC, his office is raided…They take away 50 computers, take away all the data, they detain our leaders…The Telangana police behaved like goondas.”

He said it is the responsibility of the Congress as an Opposition party to raise the people’s voice. “There will be memes, creatives, cartoons on social media…Why are you (KCR government) so afraid, you are so scared that you raided the Congress war room.”

Revanth Reddy said Modi and KCR were always together. “They were like the heads and tails of a coin. Now that anti-incumbency against the KCR government is mounting, people have started speaking against the government. Our programmes are getting good response. KCR is getting scared,” he charged.

“We are highlighting the failures and corruption of the KCR government through social media because the media in Telangana have been bought over by the government. Social media is not illegal, these are legitimate platforms,” he said.

Reddy also said the police should have followed due procedure. “Who gave the complaint. Have you registered an FIR, issued a notice, did you have a search warrant? At night 200 policemen in plain clothes enter the Congress war room, there were women working there. This is not acceptable,” he said.

The row has brought the media-shy Kanugolu in the spotlight. In May this year, a name had stood out as the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced the party’s 2024 Lok Sabha polls task force. Along with veteran leaders such as P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kanugolu also featured in the panel.

Kanugolu’s entry into the Congress set-up then came soon after fellow election strategist and former colleague Prashant Kishor had declined the party’s offer to join it.

On whether Kanugolu had joined the party, Surjewala had then said, “Yes, he is a member of the Congress party.”

Kanugolu, who does not have any online presence, is an elusive figure, unlike Kishor, and their modus operandi also differ considerably. The two worked together in 2014 before parting ways. Earlier this year, the Congress hired the services of Kanugolu’s company Mindshare Analytics for the Karnataka state elections scheduled for next year. According to a person who has known the election strategist for five years, “he knows his limits, he never tries to patronise or overpower his clients, neither does he take credit nor does he flaunt his connections”.

The poll strategist’s low profile caught the attention of the Congress. “Even the photograph circulating on social media as that of his (Kanugolu) is of his brother,” a Congress leader had then told The Indian Express. “So, you can understand his style of functioning. He prefers to remain in the background. My impression is that he does not impose his views and ideas on the party. Every party has its strengths and weaknesses. Every party is different in the way it functions. He understands that and tries to work with the party.”

After parting ways with Kishor and striking out on his own, Kanugolu returned to the political mainstream by designing DMK chief and current Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin’s “Namakku Naame” campaign ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls. Though the campaign was successful and elevated Stalin’s public image, the DMK failed to win as a third front split the votes and helped the AIADMK retain power despite a strong anti-incumbency factor. As a Congress leader put it, “The DMK lost but Stalin emerged as a leader.”

Someone who worked with the political consultant during his time with the DMK pointed out another difference between him and Kishor. “Unlike Kishor, Sunil builds a team drawn from the party and that remains intact even after polls.”

Following the stint in Tamil Nadu, Kanugolu worked closely with Amit Shah in Delhi till February 2018. He shaped successful campaigns for the BJP, including in the state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka, with the help of a team of 300 people.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the political operative returned to the DMK camp and helped the United Progressive Alliance win 38 of the state’s 39 parliamentary constituencies.

But he parted ways with the DMK before last year’s Assembly elections after Stalin sought Kishor’s help. “We suggested that he work with Kishor but it was not acceptable to Sunil,” said a senior DMK leader. “Later, we realised that Kishor also wouldn’t have agreed to work with Sunil.”

The election strategist switched sides and advised the AIADMK but could not stop it from getting ousted from power. A person who knows Kanugolu said, “I assume that his relationship with DMK is not great, may not even be in talking terms.”

Last year, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi met Kanugolu around the same time they reportedly held talks with Kishor. In the end, they chose Mindshare Analytics for the Karnataka campaign.