Nitish Kumar Distances Party from Prashant Kishor’s Bengal ‘Activities’
PATNA : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday distanced his party from Prashant Kishor’s decision to offer services as a poll strategist to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying the JD(U) has nothing to do with it.
“Kishor’s activities in West Bengal are not in his capacity as a JD(U) leader,” the JD(U) chief said, adding Kishore has been in touch with various parties as head of an organisation that advises them on their poll strategies.
Mr Kishor’s new assignment has put Nitish Kumar in a spot since he rules Bihar in alliance with the BJP. Responding to the move for the first time, Mr Kumar denied that the BJP has objected so far but admitted this could cause confusion.
“Tomorrow there is a meeting of the National Executive of the party. Prashant Kishor himself will talk about it there. When he was inducted in the party last year, we gave him an important responsibility,” he said.
His remarks came after the decision by Kishor, a JD(U) vice president, to work with Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress for the 2021 Assembly polls raised eyebrows. The TMC is locked in a fierce electoral battle with the BJP, an ally of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).
Though Kumar evaded a direct reply on whether the JD(U) will seek an explanation, he expressed hope that Kishor will be able to answers all the questions on Sunday when the party’s national executive meet.
“Kishor joined our party in September last year and we assigned him an important role. But he also heads an organisation that specializes in devising poll strategies for political parties. The JD(U) has nothing to do with it,” Kumar told reporters here.I just want to make it clear that this thing has no connection with the party. He will explain,” Mr Kumar added.
He was responding to queries at the JD(U) state headquarters after launching a nationwide membership drive aimed at expanding the party base. “We have nothing to do with his activities in West Bengal. We do not even know what type of services his company will be providing in the neighboring state.
“But we understand this episode has given rise to many misgivings in the media unlike in the past when he similarly offered professional help to the YSR Congress headed by Jaganmohan Reddy which swept to power in Andhra Pradesh,” the CM said.
“However, these are matters on which Kishor himself can shed some light. He will be here on Sunday when the party’s national executive will meet. We hope that he will come up with an explanation that answers all the questions,” Kumar said.
Replying to a query, Kumar said, “I have seen no objections from the BJP on this matter. And even if the BJP has any problem, it is not going to be with our party as Kishor’s activities in West Bengal are not in his capacity as a JD(U) leader.” Insisted whether his party will seek an explanation from Kishor, Kumar said, “These things are not to be stated in the public.”
“But I am of the view Niti Ayog is a platform where states can highlight their specific needs and demands. She is entitled to her opinions. I have nothing to do with that, though,” Kumar added. Kishor’s organisation I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) came into limelight in 2014 when it handled the campaign of Narendra Modi.
A year later, Kishor worked as a poll strategist for the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar comprising the JD(U), RJD and Congress, before moving his base to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh where he was actively engaged with the campaign of the Congress.
He met Banerjee in Kolkata earlier this week and the two are understood to have agreed that I-PAC will now provide professional assistance to the Trinamool Congress which is conceded plenty of ground to the BJP in the recent general elections.
Ms Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress nosedived from 34 to 22 seats in 42-seat Bengal in the parliamentary election, is locked in a bitter tussle with the BJP that has gone on an audacious seven-phase defection spree to scoop up its leaders and political workers.
The BJP, which took its tally to 18 parliamentary seats in the state from a meager 2, made it clear it would not stop until it ousted the Trinamool in the next assembly election, due in 2021.
Mr Kishor, 42, is credited with YSR Congress chief Jagan Reddy’s sweep in Andhra Pradesh, where the incumbent Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s party was voted out of power last month. After winning over 150 of 175 assembly constituencies, Jagan Reddy took power in the state for the first time.
Prashant Kishor joined politics last year as the vice president of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal United, but he was hardly given any job for the election. His party chief Nitish Kumar was apparently under pressure from ally BJP, which was upset with the strategist over his effort to expand the party’s base among the youth in Bihar.
Prashant Kishor winning streak with the successful campaigns of Narendra Modi in 2014 and Nitish Kumar in 2015 was interrupted by his flop venture to revive the Congress in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. He was instrumental in getting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress’s Rahul Gandhi to tie up, which set up his famous “UP ke Ladke (UP boys)” campaign. But the coalition was pulverised by the BJP. (With Agency Inputs ).
