Political strategist Sunil Kanugolu will continue as Chief Advisor to the Karnataka government, with Chief Minister DK Shivakumar issuing an order on Monday, June 8, retaining him in the Cabinet-rank position. Kanugolu had previously served in the same role under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Kanugolu is widely regarded as one of the key architects of the Congress party's election strategies in recent years.
Kanugolu joined the Congress in 2022 as head of campaign strategy and was also a member of the party's Task Force 2024. He played a key role in campaign planning, messaging and survey-based voter outreach during the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.
He is credited with helping design several high-profile campaign initiatives, including the "PayCM" campaign and the "40% Sarkara" campaign targeting the BJP government led by then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai over corruption allegations.
His firm, Mindshare Analytics, reportedly conducted multiple surveys ahead of the elections, identifying constituencies where the Congress was narrowly trailing and recommending corrective measures. The party went on to secure a decisive victory in the polls.
Though Kanugolu formally joined the Congress only in 2022, he had already built a reputation as one of the country's most sought-after political strategists. He first gained prominence working alongside political consultant Prashant Kishor during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign.
Over the past decade, Kanugolu has worked with several political parties across states, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Congress. He is credited with designing former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's "Namakku Naame" (We for Ourselves) campaign in 2015 and helping foreground Tamil identity as a major electoral theme for the DMK. He later worked with the AIADMK ahead of the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and was involved in efforts to rebuild the public image of former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Kanugolu also found himself at the centre of a political controversy in Telangana. In December 2022, Telangana Police raided the Hyderabad office of Mindshare Analytics, alleging that derogatory social media posts targeting then Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi had originated from the firm. The Cyber Crime wing seized electronic devices during the raids, and Kanugolu was later called in for questioning in January 2023. The Congress criticised the action, alleging it was an instance of political vendetta.
Known for maintaining a low public profile despite his influence, Kanugolu comes from a Telugu-speaking family from Ballari and spent several years living and working in Chennai.
