Why the presence of poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu at Kerala Congress meet irked CM Vijayan, sparking a row

Kanugolu attended the Political Affairs Committee meeting of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in Thiruvananthapuram last week, Congress leaders told South First.

The chief election strategist for the Congress, along with KPCC president K Sudhakaran and Opposition Leader VD Satheesan, is said to have discussed the performance of each of the 16 Congress MPs from the state.

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Congress MPs’ performances under review

Sunil Kanugolu’s meeting with Kerala State leadership has also sparked discussions on the Congress choosing its campaign strategies and candidates for the next Lok Sabha elections based on the findings of his team’s field surveys.

Kanugolu purportedly told the conference that his team had conducted grassroots-level surveys and produced performance reports for every Congress Lok Sabha member from Kerala.

Leaders claimed that the poll strategist, who joined the Congress Task Force for the 2024 Lok Sabha election after being hired by the party in March last year, said he would meet one-on-one with every Lok Sabha member from the state.

The talk of “performance reviews” has also left Kerala Congress leaders jittery.

Prominent Congressmen in Kerala confirmed to South First that the party would use Kanugolu’s help to create focused campaign strategies in the state for the Lok Sabha elections, targeting the main rivals in the state, the CPI(M), and its coalition partners.

Although the CPI(M) is a partner in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, the two parties are expected to go against each other in Kerala and not cede space to BJP.

Congress leaders asserted that Kanugolu would chalk out strategies to corner the CPI (M)-led government in Kerala, which has been facing charges of corruption, like the previous BJP government in Karnataka.

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal introduced Kanugolu to the party’s leaders in the state. Unconfirmed reports said Venugopal might contest to the Lok Sabha election from the Alappuzha constituency, which the Congress lost to the CPI(M) in the previous election.

Alappuzha has been Venugopal’s political turf for a long period.

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Vijayan sees ‘bid to spread canards’

Even as the Congress in Kerala is warming up to the idea of a poll strategist influencing the party’s decisions on candidates and campaign, the very presence of Sunil Kanugolu seems to have left Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan irked.

Criticising the KPCC, Vijayan said the party inviting a “social media expert” to its Political Affairs Committee meeting was indicative of the state’s changing political climate.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (Supplied)

Addressing a press conference, the chief minister accused the Congress of spreading “false propaganda” against his government, purportedly with the assistance of the “PR expert” and his group. Vijayan feigned ignorance of Kanugolu and refused to bring up his Congress membership.

Vijayan said that an “outside public relations expert” has been engaged and that he attended the meeting to spread canards about the LDF government on social media.

He claimed that a “social media specialist’s” presence at the crucial Congress gathering was indicative of the changing political climate in the state. He questioned the rationale behind a political party starting its campaign with the help of a well-known “public relations expert”.

He claimed that until now, no political party in Kerala has let a PR specialist preside over high-level committee meetings.

The chief minister further said that the media in the state was mingling with PR professionals and disseminating misinformation. He asked the media to consider if such acts suited them.

Vijayan’s comments infuriated the Opposition.

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Congress points to Vijayan’s own “PR team”

Opposition leader Satheesan reminded Vijayan that at the peak of Covid-19, he had hired a Mumbai-based public relations agency to decide what to cover in his news conferences.

In addition, the PR firm focused on giving him a makeover ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. “There should be some regret when making such remarks,” he stated.

Speaking to South First, he said Vijayan has become thick-skinned. He asserted that Vijayan need not teach the Congress how to manage poll campaigns.

“We proved our capacity to run political campaigns in the past two byelections held in the state,” he said.

Regarding Kanugolu’s presence at the KPCC meeting, Satheesan stated that the Congressman was a part of the AICC committee that was assigned with the task of chalking out election strategies.

“What is wrong in roping in public relations firms? Which political party in the country refuses their assistance,” he asked.

KPCC president K Sudhakaran, too, chastised Vijayan for his use of PR agencies.

The non-state PR specialists observed Vijayan’s nonverbal cues and provided him guidance in public speaking. The agencies prepared the content for his daily press appearances during the Covid-19 outbreak, Sudhakaran claimed, adding that Vijayan had no moral authority to advise the Congress on image-building.

“It’s interesting to observe that someone who has been utilising PR firms’ assistance and whose appearance has been decided by PR firms is now accusing the Congress of involving Kanugolu,” he said.

Kanugolu was a public relations agency owner, according to Satheesan. “Now, he is an active party member, and he is a member of the core group constituted by the party high command for evolving strategies,” ​he said in a statement.

Refuting Vijayan’s accusation that the party would be spreading canards, Satheesan said the poll campaign would be authentic.

Jayarajan joins the debate

LDF coordinator and CPI(M) leader EP Jayarajan, too, joined the debate.

LDF Convener EP Jayarajan. (Supplied)

“Have political parties ever requested PR professionals’ inputs for campaign strategies during high-level committee meetings? Don’t we all have successful political careers? Does anyone among us recall these kinds of events? The KPCC is bringing a renowned public relations specialist to its high-level meeting to harm the LDF government’s reputation and seek guidance on election campaigns,” Jayarajan claimed.

The CPI(M) accused the Congress of utilising social media accounts to spread misleading information about the Vijayan government and attempting to harm the reputation of numerous departments that function well, such as higher education and health, by utilising PR behemoths as well as mainstream media.

High-ranking officials confirmed to South First that public relations firms were heavily used by the Kerala government, opposition UDF, and the BJP in the past two Assembly elections.

Incidentally, the LDF had employed PR firms in 2016 and rode to power on the catch phrase, LDF Varum, Ellam Sariyakum (LDF will come, everything will be set right).