Karnataka Election 2023: Days after Congress attained a thumping victory in the Karnataka Assembly election, the political strategist, who closely worked with KPCC Chief DK Shivakumar, shared his experience. Speaking to news agency PTI, Naresh Arora, the head of the political campaign management company DesignBoxed, said that the campaign had been sustained for two and a half years before the polls.

"Here the campaign was started two and a-half years before elections... the lesson is that one needs to be amongst the people 24X7 for 365 days. It cannot be that two months prior to the election, you go and think that people will be acknowledging you, it does not happen like that," Arora told news agency PTI.

"Especially a party like the Congress which has been on the back foot, needs to do extra hard work which I think was done in Karnataka, which is the biggest takeaway," he added.

Arora, who conceptualised several of the party’s campaigns in the run-up to the May 10 assembly polls, said he was sure that a decision on the next chief minister would be arrived at in consultation with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.

"I am not a stakeholder in this process. I know that the Congress has gone through its tried and tested formula of one-line resolution and talking to the MLAs. I am pretty sure that the decision will be arrived at in consultation with both the senior leaders," Arora, who heads DesignBoxed, told PTI.

Arora said that the Congress' win will definitely send a message that an electoral battle can be won head-on with the BJP.

"Generally the impression has been that when there is a direct contest with the BJP, it is the BJP that takes over. In Karnataka, it was a high octane campaign, there was an incumbent BJP government, a non-BJP party has won. I am pretty sure this will give a lot of confidence to the Congress and other Opposition parties," he told PTI.

Arora’s DesignBoxed is also involved with the Congress’ campaign in Rajasthan, and he is confident that the state which has a tradition of changing governments every five years, may not do so this time.

"There is a very strong chance of the revolving door policy to stop because the government, the CM (Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot) there are quite popular, the schemes implemented by the government are resonating on the ground. The Congress has very bright chances there," he said.

(With input from agencies)