Prashant Kishor joins JD(U) ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls

India वोट Kar | September 17, 2018

Election strategist Prashant Kishor formally joined the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday at the party’s state executive meeting at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna. Senior leaders, including Nitish Kumar, welcomed him, and the chief minister told party members that Kishor was “the way forward”. Only recently, Kishor had said he would stay out of all 2019 campaigns.

What his entry may mean

His induction is expected to shape the JD(U)’s plans for the 2019 Lok Sabha election, and he may be given a role in the Bihar government within weeks. A commentary on the move contrasted it with politics built on family succession, citing the strains in Tamil Nadu when M. K. Stalin succeeded his father, DMK patriarch Karunanidhi, despite resistance from Alagiri.

Background

Nitish Kumar had earlier made Kishor his adviser, hoping to keep him in Patna, but the Bihar Vikas Mission did not take off after Kishor moved on following the Bihar election. Kishor next took on Congress campaigns in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and contact between the two men was limited, though Nitish was quoted as calling him family.

Later, the grand alliance of the JD(U), RJD and Congress in Bihar broke up and Nitish Kumar went back to the BJP. The terms had changed, however: the 2014 Lok Sabha election had left the JD(U) with just 2 MPs. Some state BJP leaders, such as Giriraj Singh, still target Nitish, leaving JD(U) leaders unsure whether this has the top leadership’s approval.

JD(U) sources said Nitish and Kishor began speaking more often after Kishor was humbled by the Congress-SP loss in Uttar Pradesh. The commentary argued that Nitish also knew his image had suffered after his 2017 switch, which largely shut the door on a return to the secular front, and asked whether Kishor was his insurance for an uncertain future.