Prashant Kishor eyes youth to get Nitish 7th term as Bihar CM in 2020

Prashant Kishor said the party has set out to bring one lakh aspiring youth into the party fold and test them in electoral politics at various levels, starting from university, panchayat or district board polls

Aware of the big challenge in 2020, when Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will seek his seventh term since 2005 , the JD(U) has started strategising with youth in focus.

JD (U) vice-president and poll strategist Prashant Kishor with CM Nitish Kumar (HT File)

Admitting it would be a challenge in 2020, JD (U) vice-president and poll strategist Prashant Kishor said the party has set out to bring one lakh aspiring youth into the party fold and test them in electoral politics at various levels, starting from university, panchayat or district board polls. His team has already started identifying promising youth and assigning roles.

“Our focus will be youth and we will try to bring them in the forefront, aligning with their changing aspirations. It will also help in 2019, though we are not unduly worried about general elections due to recent poll reverses for our ally BJP in the three states. NDA remains formidable in Bihar,” said Kishor.

Kishor said that in all the three states the BJP lost, it was a direct fight with the Congress. “Besides, there was double whammy for BJP due to SC/ST Act that angered the Dalits and Centre’s response to it, which upset the forward class. These factors are not relevant in Bihar, as Lalu Prasad’s RJD is insurance for the NDA in general elections, which is fought on national issues. People still recall pre-Nitish era with dismay,” he said.

Kishor, however, conceded that 2020 would certainly be different due to anti-incumbency factor, but said it would not be a jinx in Bihar due a number of factors.

“It is quite natural for fatigue to set in with the same dispensation continuing for so long. That is why it is a challenge to counter it and requires innovation. In Bihar, the scenario is, however, different, as the ground realities are not the same. The alternatives have also not emerged to convince the people that they would be better than Nitish-led government due to the legacy of RJD’s previous regime,” Kishor said.

Earlier this month, Kishor gave a hint of JD(U)’s youth mobilisation strategy by creating a buzz in the Patna University students’ union elections and had the last laugh even at the cost of angering a section of its ally, the BJP. For the first time, JD(U) bagged two key posts of the PU’s central panel, including that of the president.

Kishor said his party was also active in the politically sensitive Darbhanga district’s Lalit Narayan Mithila University (LNMU), where students’ union elections are being held. The party plans to field its candidate from Darbhanga in the next Lok Sabha elections, as BJP’s suspended three-time sitting MP from Darbhanga, Kirti Azad, is tipped to be a UPA candidate from the Congress. JD(U ) also plans to foray into other universities where student union polls are due.

JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said that the party had also been assiduously nurturing the caste-neutral women’s constituency with a slew of initiatives for girls studying in schools and colleges, strengthening of women’s self-help groups, prohibition to give them a happy life and reservation for women in panchayats and jobs in teaching, police and health sector.

“For JD(U), caste and creed will not matter when people will compare Nitish Kumar and his competitors. Even in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nitish will be the face of the NDA to strengthen its prospects for another term, as he is one leader who has retained his acceptability across all sections on the basis of his work and conduct. It will serve the interest of our allies also,” he said