Bengaluru, Jun 1 (IANS): Poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu, who delivered a stupendous victory in Karnataka polls to Congress, has been appointed as the Chief Advisor to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

An order in this regard states that Sunil Kanugolu will be Chief Advisor to the CM and enjoy cabinet rank.

Sources in the party said on Thursday that the move is made as per the wishes of the high command to win maximum seats in upcoming Parliamentary elections in the state. The Congress was able to face campaigning blitzkrieg by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and scores of national leaders and emerge victorious in Assembly elections.

Sunil Kanugolu strategised and gave a roadmap for the Congress. The party had managed to win only one out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.

D.K. Suresh, brother of DyCM D.K. Shivakumar, had won from Bengaluru Rural seat on personal capacity. BJP had swept the elections with 25 seats.

While Sumalatha Ambareesh had won as an independent candidate from the Mandya seat, Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda won from Hassan seat.

Deve Gowda had to face humiliating defeat by BJP candidate G.S. Basavaraju in Tumakuru seat.

Now, with a changed political scenario, the Congress is aiming to bag more than 20 seats in the state, which it won easily in many elections.

Sources say that Sunil Kanugolu team had conducted a series of surveys in all 224 Assembly constituencies of the state. The submissions and presentations were made to the Congress. Based on the findings and data of Sunil Kanugolu's reports, the Congress got a push and focused aggressively on organizing the party. The party changed the strategy on campaigning too.

Kunagolu also worked towards taking the five guarantees to the voters. He has been working with the Congress for a year. He was born in Ballary and resides in Bengaluru. He had worked for BJP, DMK and AIADMK in the past.