Is making Prashant Kishor national vice president of JDU a political masterstroke?
When Nitish Kumar on Tuesday elevated Prashant Kishor as the national vice president of Janata Dal United, it was seen as a political masterstroke and also the Chief Minister’s smart attempt to put his best foot forward in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, scheduled next year. Kishor had joined the JDU on September 16 and his quick elevation in the party also suggests how much Nitish trusts the 41-year-old ace strategist.
The challenge for NDA in Bihar is that though Nitish Kumar still is the most popular politician in the state, as the recently held India Today Political stock-exchange report adequately affirmed, he will neither be the incumbent nor the challenger in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. They will be Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, and the challenge for Prashant will be to prevent the Lok Sabha polls from getting polarised as a Modi-versus-Rahul, and keep it Nitish-centric.
Prashant Kishor has proven expertise in delivering results in elections. It was Kishor who devised the election strategy of the Grand Alliance — comprising the RJD, the Congress and the JDU — in the 2015 Assembly elections and the three parties together stopped the BJP juggernaut, which had seemed invincible after the outcome of the 2014 general election.
But the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be a different ball game for Prashant Kishor too. Unlike the past, for the JDU Vice President, the challenge this time will be to keep general election in Bihar Nitish-centric, which many believe can be the solitary recipe of success in Bihar.
On each of the earlier occasions, when Prashant delivered massive mandates, whether it was for Narendra Modi in 2014, Nitish Kumar in 2015 and Captain Amarinder Singh in 2017, the only common thread was that his strategies were built around the personas of the protagonists.
For instance, he had transformed the 2015 Bihar assembly elections into a presidential format by putting Nitish Kumar’s strong credentials ahead of all issues. And, when Nitish took the centre-stage, every issue got relegated to insignificance. But, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls where BJP and at least some saffron leaders are trying hard to play Big Brother in Bihar, it will be a huge challenge for Prashant to keep Lok Sabha elections centred on the strength of Nitish Kumar’s good governance.
From 2005 to 2015, Bihar has witnessed four assembly and two Lok Sabha polls. And each of these elections — except the deviation seen in 2014 Lok Sabha when the Narendra Modi wave swept Bihar and also the country — the winner always had Nitish Kumar standing by his side.
In five of the past six elections held in Bihar, those who won — including the BJP, the RJD and the Congress — invariably had Nitish as their alliance partner. “That’s the bottom line. If you have Nitish by your side you are already nose-ahead in Bihar,” said a senior BJP leader.
In fact, a section of BJP leaders sees merit in the strategy of keeping Nitish ahead in the Lok Sabha polls. “Besides other positive reasons, we also know that having him in Bihar alliance can cushion or even neutralise any possible anti-incumbency against the Modi government in the State that has 40 Lok Sabha seats,” said a senior BJP leader in Bihar.
A senior JDU leader told India Today that in view of BJP’s successive setbacks in Lok Sabha by polls in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, coupled with a non-existent Modi wave now, Nitish Kumar’s leadership in Bihar is the only option that the NDA has to stay head and shoulders above the rest.
He also admitted that Kishor’s skills in formulating and implementing election strategy will be of huge significance, as the JDU expects to contest at least 16 seats. Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, the NDA currently has 33 seats, a tally that includes two JDU MPs. As Bihar holds crucial electoral significance, the NDA wants to put its best foot forward. And Prashant Kishor looks to have pulled up his socks.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)
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