Election strategist Prashant Kishor has once again set off a buzz by making a cryptic announcement on Monday, to “begin (his political journey) from Bihar” by going to the “real masters, the people”.
However, his latest tweet was received with suspicion, scorn and dismissal by political parties, including those whom he had helped to win elections.
Days after ‘declining’ the Congress’ offer to join a party strategy group, Kishor tweeted that his quest to be a meaningful participant in democracy and help shape pro-people policy led to a 10-year rollercoaster ride.
“As I turn the page, time to go to the real masters, the people, to better understand the issues and the path to people’s good governance [sic],” he said.
He also announced that he would make the beginning from his home state — Bihar.
In his earlier conversations with Congress, there was a buzz that he wanted to be the face of the grand old party in the state. Kishor, after his debacle in JD(U) — where he had a meteoric rise — formed a group, “Baat Bihar Ki” (Conversations About Bihar) in 2020, which did not fly off.
“There is no future for any new political outfit/initiative in Bihar other than the four parties of the mainstream,” commented BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi.
BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand hit out at Kishor, saying he is “neither a social scientist nor a political scientist” but a “power broker and a middleman”. He dismissed him as “nothing more than a “vote katwa” (spoiler) in Bihar politics”.
Indeed, Kishor has come a long way since 2014, when he had strategised the ‘hologram-based’ election campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with events like ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ and other catchy taglines.
By 2022, Kishor, who had worked with a wide range of parties — mostly from the non-NDA Opposition — turned into a trenchant critic of Narendra Modi’s policies.
Dismissing Kishor’s plans, Sushil Modi said there are already hundreds of political parties in the country; what effect it will have on the existing ever-flowing rivers if a “highly ambitious person” wants to create a new wave?
Kishor, in the meanwhile, is learnt to be planning to hold a press conference on May 5, when he will detail his next plan.
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