Sunil Kanugolu Latest News: Sunil Kanugolu’s strategy was to corner the BJP and JD(S) so that Karnataka’s contest does not become triangular and it worked in favour of the party. He and his team continuously gave support to all the candidates with facts to counter the charges of the other parties.
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DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, Rahul Gandhi, well a lot of people have been credited for Congress’ historic mandate in Karnataka. However, there is a person, who kept himself away from cameras and campaigns but deserves equal credit. We are talking about poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu, who was hired by the Congress in March 2023 and was tasked to make a winning strategy for the grand old party in Karnataka. Following the victory in Karnataka, the Congress has now tasked Kanugolu for Madhya Pradesh, where the party even after winning in 2018 Assembly polls lost power in 2020 after rebellion by Jyotidaritya Scindia, a close confidante of Rahul Gandhi.
Sunil Kanugolu— The Man Behind Congress’ Thumping Victory in Karnataka
- Kanugolu is fondly known as ‘man of ideas’.
- Born and brought up in Chennai, Kanugolu, originally a Telugu belongs to a business family.
- He lives in Bengaluru now.
- Kanugolu had earlier worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the BJP’s campaign.
- He had also helped the BJP in UP and is said to have played a key role in the resounding victory of Yogi Adityanath in 2017.
- He had also worked for DMK and AIADMK in the past.
- Later he started strategising campaigns for the Congress.
- Kanugolu was also responsible for supporting Bharat Jodo Yatra-led by Rahul Gandhi, which he kick-started from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari on September 7 last year.
- Kanugolu will also play a key role in shaping the party’s election campaign in Madhya Pradesh, where elections will be held by the end of this year.
- His close aides reveal that Kanugolu’s biggest strength is his ability to form personal relationships with the party’s prominent leaders. “He has a personality that is calm but firm. He is low-profile, attention-hating, and because he always comes armed with data from field surveys, he cannot be bulldozed, and politicians find a lot of value in him in their everyday political work,” a Congress insider told NDTV.
- Kanugolu had also worked with election strategist Prashant Kishor in 2014 before parting ways.