Putting an end to all speculation on Monday, poll strategist and Indian Political Action Committee co-founder Prashant Kishor announced that he will begin his political journey from Bihar.
This comes a year after he formally decided to stop working as an election strategist. Taking to Twitter, Kishor contended that he would now reach out to the people to understand their issues and usher in good governance from his home state.
Earlier, sources had told Republic TV that Kishor will form his own political party soon.
Inspired by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, he had joined JDU in September 2018 and was appointed as the party’s vice president.
However, he was expelled from JDU in January 2020 after he publicly opposed his party’s support for CAA in both Houses of Parliament.
Prashant Kishor stated, “My 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 Peoples’ Good Governance. The start will be from Bihar.”
Interestingly, Kishor confirmed his political plunge only days after he turned down Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s offer to join the party and become a member of the Empowered Action Group (EAP) 2024.
The EAP was formed after an 8-member committee submitted its report on the poll strategist’s presentation pertaining to the revival of the party and the strategy for the 2024 General Election.
In a tweet, Kishor opined, “In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms”.
Pan-party influence
After gaining acclaim owing to his crucial role in BJP winning a majority on its own in the 2014 General election, IPAC has run successful campaigns for AAP (2015 Delhi Assembly election), Mahagatbandhan (2015 Bihar Assembly election), Congress (2017 Punjab Assembly election), YSCRP (Andhra Pradesh Assembly election), DMK (Tamil Nadu Assembly election) and TMC (West Bengal Assembly election). However, he failed to propel the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance to victory in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls. On March 1, 2021, Prashant Kishor was appointed as Punjab CM Amarinder Singh’s Principal Advisor.
While the poll strategist was tasked with Congress’ election campaign for the Punjab Assembly election due next year, he resigned from this post on August 5, 2021, itself citing that he wanted to take a “temporary break” from an active role in public life.
This came in the wake of his decision to quit the political strategy space after the West Bengal Assembly polls.
While he reportedly played a key role in TMC’s Goa election campaign, the party drew a blank whereas its ally MGP joined hands with BJP after the election.
