Hailing from the Ballari district of Karnataka, Sunil Kanugolu received his primary education in the region before moving to Chennai and eventually settling in Bengaluru. Sunil Kanugolu, a political strategist, has been entrusted with the responsibility of spearheading the election management endeavors of the Congress party in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress party in Karnataka achieved an astounding triumph in the recently held assembly elections on May 10, securing an impressive tally of 135 out of 224 assembly seats. Having collaborated with the Congress party in the state for the past year, Sunil Kanugolu’s expertise has been instrumental in this victory for the grand old party. Looking ahead, Kanugolu is now on the brink of taking charge of the party’s election management endeavors for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Who is Sunil Kanugolu?
Having a diverse political background, Sunil Kanugolu has been associated with prominent political parties such as the BJP, DMK, and AIADMK in the past. Notably, during the Jallikattu protests in 2017, Kanugolu played a crucial role in advocating Tamil pride and promoting the Dravidian model. Local media reports have highlighted his contributions in aiding the DMK to effectively counter the assertive BJP during that period. Local media sources have indicated that although Kanugolu is originally a Telugu speaker, he has ancestral ties to Karnataka and presently resides in Bengaluru.
Sunil Kanugolu with Congress
Following Prashant Kishor’s decline of the Congress party’s invitation to join on April 26 of the previous year, Sunil Kanugolu was recruited to contribute to the party’s election strategy for various elections across India.
In May of the same year, Kanugolu was appointed as a member of the Task Force 2024, a distinguished team established by the Congress to implement the Nav Sankalp (New Resolution) declaration ratified in Udaipur. This accomplished group comprises notable leaders such as P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Sunil Kanugolu has garnered recognition for his strategic planning of Rahul Gandhi’s transformative Bharat Jodo Yatra. This remarkable march encompassed a staggering distance of over 4,000 km, stretching from the southern tip of India to Jammu and Kashmir. The yatra, orchestrated by the Congress party, is widely believed to have played a pivotal role in influencing recent electoral outcomes.
Building on his triumphant endeavors in the Karnataka assembly elections, Kanugolu has reportedly established an office in Madhya Pradesh, where he is poised to contribute his expertise to the state’s upcoming election campaigns.
Sunil Kanugolu has an impressive track record in the political landscape, having previously been a crucial member of Prashant Kishor’s team that played a significant role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successful election campaign in 2014. He has also made substantial contributions to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by orchestrating effective election campaigns in various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka, where the BJP emerged victorious.
Recognized as a highly sought-after pollster, Kanugolu founded the Association of Brilliant Minds (ABM), which served as the BJP’s campaign body during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections. His involvement with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is widely acknowledged, and he is credited with playing a pivotal role in the party’s resounding victory in 2017, as affirmed by party leaders.