Sunil Kanugolu: The poll strategist, who scripted Congress wins in Telangana and Karnataka

India’s youngest state, Telangana, is poised for a change in power. The Congress in on the path to success – it has secured wins in 64 seats – unseating the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

While many will credit the party’s win to Revanth Reddy, there’s been another quiet force who has been working in the background ensuring that the party’s fortunes turn in the state. That man is none other than the elusive Sunil Kanugolu, the same person responsible for turning the tide for the Congress in the previously-held Karnataka elections.

Let’s take a better look at who is Kanugolu and how he helped Congress script a victory in Telangana, upsetting K Chandrashekhar Rao and his party, the BRS.

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The personal life of Sunil Kanugolu

Very little is known about Kanugolu’s personal life and that can be attributed to his nature; he’s shy, introverted and prefers to stay away from the limelight.

Born in Karnataka’s Ballari district, he later moved to Chennai and then the United States for his education. It is reported that he studied engineering as an undergraduate and then achieved post graduate degrees. He then returned to Indian in 2009. He has worked as a consultant with McKinsey, which could be blamed for his habit of staying away from the public glare.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has stated that Kanugolu has held the post of director in three companies — SR Independent Fisheries Private Limited, SR Naturo Foods Private Limited and Brainstorm Innovation and Research Private Limited (BSIR) — all of which have ceased to exist.

He’s known notoriously for staying away from the limelight with even one Congress leader telling The Print, “He is as elusive as Bagheera (the black panther from Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories), and leaves no trail.”

The one fact, however, that is known about Kanugolu is his love for food. His friends, according to a News18 report, call him a ‘militant meat-eater’.

From Modi campaign to Congress win

Kanugolu’s start in political strategy began way back with him co-founding the Association of Brilliant Minds, a firm that came up with political strategies for the BJP. He was also a part of Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), a group brought together by renowned poll strategist, Prashant Kishor, to propel Narendra Modi’s prime-ministerial campaign in 2014.

According to the Indian Express, he closely worked with Amit Shah until February 2018 and helped the party in the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka polls. Incidentally, BJP’s win in 2018 in the southern state was under his watchful eye.

In 2021, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul had a meeting with Kanugolu and employed his company, Mindshare Analytics, services. In May of 2022, then Congress president Sonia Gandhi named Kanugolu a member of the party’s 2024 Lok Sabha election task force.

He’s also credited with strategising Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir last year.

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The Telangana task

After being credited with steering the Congress to victory in Karnataka, he was given the uphill battle of securing Telangana for the party.

And Kanugolu, it seems was up for the task; he worked tirelessly seven days a week to ensure the party’s win in the state. A News18 reported states that he realised that a larger vote share for the BJP would help Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to stay in power and hence, first tried to limit BJP’s influence in the state.

He was also able to persuade YSR’s daughter YS Sharmila not to contest the polls in the state. Sharmila, who was driven by vengeance, realised the value in his argument and decided to drop out of the elections in order to dethrone KCR.

An MSN report stated that it was Kanugolu’s team that was responsible for including five guarantees, known as ‘Abhaya Hastam’, which were specifically tailored to Telangana’s needs.

News reports also state that it was Kanugolu’s idea to showcase the BRS as having a tacit alliance with the BJP, in order to polarise voters and win them over to the Congress. Interestingly, this was the same tactic that he used in Karnataka, where the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) was branded as the B-team of the BJP.

Speaking of the win in Telangana, a senior member of Kanugolu’s firm told Indian Express, “In Telangana, we were given a free hand. We worked on internal surveys and acted accordingly. This is in no way to say that party leaders did not contribute to the victory. They always patiently heard us and heeded to our advice.”

It seems that in Telangana in the battle of the Ks, the second K – Sunil Kanugolu – emerged victorious over K Chandrasekhar Rao.

With inputs from agencies