THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On April 26, as the general election in Kerala was being wound up, ace poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu kicked off his next mission — the 2026 assembly election. A low-key meeting was held at Indira Bhavan, on the directive of Deepa Dasmunshi, the All-India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of the state.
In fact, the two-hour, closed-door meeting Kanugolu had with members of the war room was kept so discreet that even Congress state president in-charge M M Hassan and his deputies, who were also at the venue, were not in the know.
Kanugolu, who prefers to remain low key, arrived in the capital city hours before polling ended to get to grips with organisational lapses that had been highlighted in the run-up to the election. The political strategies of Kanugolu, who is known in Congress circles as a ‘war-room general’, are believed to have guided the party to victories in the Karnataka and Telangana assembly elections.
It was Kanugolu who set up the war room at Indira Bhavan on February 10. A top Congress leader said that if not for the war room, the Congress would have limited its target to just 10 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala.
The recent campaign would have provided Kanugolu’s Bengaluru-based Mindshare Analytics team a clear picture of the ground realities in each of the 140 assembly constituencies. Another senior party leader said Kanugolu was entrusted by Deepa to ensure that groundwork for 2026 begins as early as possible.
“Kanugolu is working out ways to rejuvenate the party in Kerala. He has been trying to understand why the party faced defeats in back-to-back assembly elections. He also enquired about the KSU and Youth Congress elections and dearth of youth leaders from all communities,” the senior leader told TNIE.
For the first time, last week’s election saw an external poll strategy team undertake a serious study of election aspects, take stock of the role played by sitting MPs, the current situation, social combinations and winning prospects. Apart from Deepa, her deputy Perumal Vishwanath, were instrumental in providing valuable inputs to Kanugolu and his team.
It’s reliably learnt that Deepa will be relieved of her charge of Telangana, so as to allow her to focus on Kerala. Perumal has completed five years as AICC secretary in-charge of Kerala. He had hoped to get a party ticket to contest from his former reserved constituency of Kancheepuram, in Tamil Nadu. But that did not transpire. A source said the leadership was keen to ensure his attention was solely on Kerala, where the party is eyeing a clean sweep.
Sudhakaran to resume charge as KPCC chief
K Sudhakaran is expected to return to Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. UDF convenor M M Hassan had been holding the charge of state party president, allowing Sudhakaran to focus on defending his Kannur LS seat. However, there is speculation that a section within the state Congress is not keen to see Sudhakaran resume charge as KPCC chief.
The 70-member war room, which includes 10 employees of Sunil Kanugolu, will be given a sendoff on Monday. A group photo session followed by lunch has been planned. Deepa Dasmunshi was keen to continue the war room. But fund crunch has prompted the party to wind up its operations for the time being.