NEW DELHI: Election strategist Prashant Kishor’s move to start his own party in Bihar didn’t elicit much surprise from political watchers in the state. Not only has the 45-year-old been toying with the idea of doing this in his home state for some time (he was born in Sasaram), the announcement has come at a time when Bihar is in a state of flux.
Kishor’s announcement of ‘Jan Suraaj’ comes at a time when there are murmurs of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar facing an existential crisis within the ruling coalition. While the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s official position is that there is no question of a change of Chief Ministership in the state -- the BJP is the bigger party in the legislature, with 74 seats to the Janata Dal (United) or JD (U)’s 43 -- the talk of either him moving to Delhi or stepping down refuses to go away. Many in the BJP privately talk about how after the 2020 elections, it was felt that the BJP would have more say, but that there is some resentment among state BJP leaders, even some ministers, that the Chief Minister’s office controls all.
“Prashant Kishor is trying to do an AAP [Aam Aadmi Party] in Bihar,’’ said a BJP leader on condition of anonymity. “He knows that people want some alternative.’’ He explained how the BJP has a 35% vote share, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) 35% while Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) has 15% and the remaining 15% is with Congress and other parties such as the Left. “Two groups need to be together in order to be in power in Bihar and in 2015, we had Nitish and RJD coming together and now we have the other two together. They will stay together till there is another option.’’
{{/usCountry}}“Prashant Kishor is trying to do an AAP [Aam Aadmi Party] in Bihar,’’ said a BJP leader on condition of anonymity. “He knows that people want some alternative.’’ He explained how the BJP has a 35% vote share, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) 35% while Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) has 15% and the remaining 15% is with Congress and other parties such as the Left. “Two groups need to be together in order to be in power in Bihar and in 2015, we had Nitish and RJD coming together and now we have the other two together. They will stay together till there is another option.’’
{{/usCountry}}Always the disruptor, Kishor may well be hoping to be this change agent in his home state. While he dismissed this theory about being “the new AAP” and refused to comment further, it is well known that he announced a similar initiative after his split from the JD (U) over the party’s support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). That was two years ago (just before the pandemic), and at the time, he spoke to the press about his initiative to attract like-minded people in the state and claimed he could enrol a million people in a movement -- but that initiative fizzled out.
The BJP is taking Kishor seriously. The person cited above said that Kishor being a Brahmin leader will eat into their votes. Since the AAP was successful in defeating established parties in Punjab, questions are also being asked about whether a similar situation will emerge in Bihar. Kishor did meet Nitish Kumar earlier this year -- the ostensible reason was to wish him well post Covid -- but it is evident that there is an open channel between the two. And Nitish Kumar has also got people talking with his moves. “We can’t exactly dismiss the fact that Tejashwi [Yadav of RJD] and Nitish met numerous times over Iftaar,’’ said a Congress leader.
Meanwhile, Kishor is meeting a lot of people in Bihar. The Congress leader said one of the party’s legislators has also been invited to meet the poll strategist. HT learns that one of the many roles that the Congress considered for him was that of state Congress Committee chief but it seems that Kishor has a much more ambitious plan in mind.