Prashant Kishor
Kishor addressing a press conference May 2022
Prashant Kishor in May 2022
Vice-President of Janata Dal (United)
In office
16 October 2018 – 29 January 2021
Preceded byUday Narayan Choudhary
Succeeded byLalan Singh
Personal details
Born1976 or 1977 (age 46–47)[1]
Konar, Bihar, India
Political partyJanata Dal (United)
(2018–2020)
SpouseJahnavi Das
Children1
OccupationPolitical Strategist and Tactician
WebsiteOfficial website

Prashant Kishor, colloquially known as PK, is an Indian political strategist and tactician.[2] He worked in public health[3] programmes funded by the United Nations for eight years before venturing into Indian politics and working as a political strategist.[4][5]

Kishor has worked as a political strategist for BJP to gain his knowledge then he worked for the BJP, JD(U), INC, AAP, YSRCP, DMK and TMC.[6][7][8] His first major political campaign was in 2011 to help Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat get re-elected to the CM Office for a third time in the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2012.[9][10] However, he came to wider public attention when Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election-campaign group he conceptualised, helped the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.[11]

Personal life and career

Kishor hails from the Konar village, Sasaram of Rohtas district. He later moved to Buxar, Bihar where he completed his secondary education.[1][5] He is married to Jahnavi Das, a physician hailing from Guwahati, Assam, with whom he has a son.[12][13]

Reportedly working pro bono, and without holding any office in the BJP or Gujarat Government, Kishor was employed as a political strategist for BJP's pre-election campaign.[14] He was employed as the political strategist of Janata Dal (United) political party on 16 September 2018.[4]

Work as a political strategist

In 2013, Kishor co-founded Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), a media and publicity company in preparation for the May 2014 general election of India, with Robbin Sharrma and others.[15][16][17] Kishor and his team were credited with formulating an innovative marketing & advertising campaign for Narendra Modi— the Chai pe Charcha discussions,[18] 3D rallies, Run for Unity,[11] Manthan and several social media programmes.[19]

In 2015, Kishor and other CAG members regrouped as I-PAC to work with Nitish Kumar, in a bid to win a third term as Chief Minister in the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.[20] The claims were that Kishor dramatically influenced the strategy, resources and alliances for the campaign.[21][22] Upon winning the Bihar elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar named Kishor as his advisor for planning and programme implementation, with a brief look for ways to implement the seven-point agenda that was promised during Kumar's election campaign.[23][24] In 2020, Kishor was involved with the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election as well.[25][26]

In 2016 the Indian National Congress employed Kishor for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. However, these elections were a failure for Congress and Kishor as BJP won more than 300+ seats and Congress could only manage 7 seats. This was also the first time Kishor failed to help a party win the elections.[27]

Kishor has successfully worked with several other political parties in India as well including Amarinder Singh for the 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election,[28][29][30] Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election,[31] Arvind Kejriwal for the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election,[32] Mamata Banerjee for the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election,[33][34] and M. K. Stalin for the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election as well.[35]

Retirement from political strategy

After the win of the AITC in the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election and DMK in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Kishor declared that he was quitting as an election strategist.[36] In an interview with NDTV on 2 May 2021, Kishor told anchor Sreenivasan Jain on live TV, "I do not want to continue what I am doing. I have done enough. Time for me to take a break and do something else in life. I want to quit this space."[36]

Jan Suraaj

A year later on 2 May 2022, Kishor hinted toward the formation of a political outfit of his own with a tweet that said that it was time to go to the "Real Masters, The People" and on the path of "Jan Suraaj-Peoples Good Governance"[37]—similar to his last recent campaign titled "Baat Bihar Ki". After his retirement from being a political strategist, Kishor has also mulled launching a political party from his home state, Bihar.[38] Kishor later on announced a 3,000 km Padyatra which would take place across Bihar, and would involve Kishor meeting with people from all across the state.[39] The "Padyatra" would take place under his "Jan Suraaj Padyatra" campaign which could potentially lead to a formation of a political party in Bihar.[40]

References

  1. 1 2 "JD(U) May Field Prashant guhani from Brahmin Bastion Buxar in 2019". News18. 16 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  2. ↑ Karthikeyan, Ragamalika (2 May 2021). "It's a win for Prashant Kishor too — but is there a 'magic touch'?". The News Minute. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  3. ↑ K, Sruthijith K. (7 October 2013). "Prashant Kishor: Meet the most trusted strategist in the Narendra Modi organisation". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Election Guru Prashant Kishor Join's Nitish Kumar's JD(U)". Headlines Today. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 Tewary, Amarnath (16 September 2018). "Poll strategist Prashant Kishor joins JD(U)". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  6. ↑ "Prashant Kishor joins Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United)". Livemint. 16 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  7. ↑ "Prashant Kishor becomes Advisor to Bihar CM". The Hindu. 22 January 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "Prashant Kishor- Is He Really A Master Poll Strategist?". 5 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "'Sweet revenge': How Prashant Kishor took on mighty Modi-Shah machine & ruined BJP plans". 2 May 2021.
  10. ↑ "Prashant Kishor, the man who created Modi wave, is Nitish's deputy".
  11. 1 2 qz.com, Sruthijith KK. "Meet the nonprofit whose backroom work powered Modi to victory". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  12. ↑ "लेडी डॉक्टर पर दिल हार बैठे थे PK, रचाई शादी, जानिए कौन हैं प्रशांत किशोर की पत्नी". Jansatta (in Hindi). 15 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "बिहार से राजनीति में कदम रखने वाले प्रशांत किशोर के बारे में यह बातें नहीं जानते होंगे आप". Amar Ujala (in Hindi). 16 September 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  14. ↑ K, Sruthijith K. (7 October 2013). "Prashant Kishor: Meet the most trusted strategist in the Narendra Modi organisation". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  15. ↑ Vishnoi, Anubhuti (7 March 2019). "Ex-Modi and Nitish campaign head joins team Priyanka Gandhi". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  16. ↑ Vadlapatla, Sribala (25 February 2020). "Former Prashant Kishor aide joins N Chandrababu Naidu's team as key strategist". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  17. ↑ Venugopal, Vasudha (15 May 2014). "Narendra Modi's Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG): Will it be disbanded or play bigger role?". Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  18. ↑ "Narendra Modi to launch 'chai pe charcha' campaign today". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  19. ↑ "Prashant Kishor teaming up with Modi for 2019 general elections reeks of desperation". www.dailyo.in. Archived from the original on 8 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  20. ↑ "Prashant Kishor: Man pivot of PM Narendra Modi campaign in talks to help steer JD(U) in Bihar election". timesofindia-economictimes. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "Backroom boy who changed the rules". Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  22. ↑ Thakur, Sankarshan (23 July 2015). "Modi's ace versus Modi's ex-mace". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  23. ↑ Anuja (22 January 2016). "Prashant Kishor appointed Nitish Kumar's advisor". Live Mint. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  24. ↑ Manish, Sai (11 March 2017). "Behind Congress' Punjab election win: Prashant Kishor's behind-the-scenes magic at display". Business Standard India. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  25. ↑ Tewary, Amarnath (21 February 2020). "Bihar Opposition leaders meet Prashant Kishor". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  26. ↑ Singh, Rohit Kumar (23 February 2020). "Baat Bihar Ki: Prashant Kishor's ambitious campaign for Bihar to be launched today". India Today. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  27. ↑ "Prashant Kishor: Master strategist who sank the Congress ship in Uttar Pradesh – Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. 14 March 2017. Archived from the original on 30 April 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  28. ↑ "How Captain Amarinder Singh Won Punjab: Here's the Inside Story". The Quint. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  29. ↑ "Amarinder-Prashant Kishor 'Jodi' Ensured Congress' Punjab Comeback". The Quint. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  30. ↑ "The man who won Punjab: breaking down Captain Amarinder's path to victory". CatchNews.com. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  31. ↑ Nitin B. (24 March 2019). "Inside I-PAC's war room for Jagan Mohan Reddy's Chief Ministerial campaign". The News Minute. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  32. ↑ Jeelani, Gulam (12 February 2020). "How AK-62 fired on all cylinders". India Today. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  33. ↑ PTI (22 February 2020). "'Adviser' Prashant Kishor has altered political discourse of Mamata's TMC". Business Standard. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  34. ↑ ANI (10 April 2021). "Prashant Kishor's leaked audio chat increases political temperature in Bengal, TMC hits out at BJP". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  35. ↑ PTI (3 February 2020). "DMK teams up with Prashant Kishor's I-PAC for 2021 Tamil Nadu polls". India Today. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  36. 1 2 Jain, Sreenivasan; Ghosh, Deepshikha (3 May 2021). "NDTV Exclusive: Bengal Won, Prashant Kishor Says "Quitting This Space"". NDTV. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  37. ↑ Hebbar, Nistula (2 May 2022). "Prashant Kishor announces plans for political outfit, says 'beginning from Bihar'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  38. ↑ "Brand Prashant Kishor and its political repercussions". mint. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  39. ↑ Tripathi, Piyush (5 May 2022). "Prashant Kishor announces 3,000-km Padyatra from Bapu's 'Karmbhumi'". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  40. ↑ "Broke my winning record, will not work with Congress again in future, says Prashant Kishor". Deccan Herald. IANS. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
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