Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday appointed poll strategist Prashant Kishore as the JD(U)’s national vice-president. His appointment ahead of 2019 general election makes him the second most powerful man in the party.
Mr Kishore who has been widely credited for the massive victory of the grand secular alliance in 2015 Bihar Assembly elections had joined the ruling JD(U) in September this year.
After his appointment as the party’s national vice-president, Mr Kishore in a tweet said, “I feel honoured for being given the responsibility to lead the party. I am committed to Nitish ji’s ideology of social justice with development”.
JD (U) leaders in Patna while welcoming Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s decision said, “The post has been lying vacant. We believe that the party will gain from his experiences.”
Party sources said that Mr Kishore has been working out a strategy to propagate the state government’s developmental projects at the grass root level. There is also a buzz that Mr. Kishore may be asked to work out campaign plans for chief minister Nitish Kumar during 2019 general elections.
Last month after he was inducted into the JD(U), Mr Kishore had met several BJP leaders in New Delhi to discuss seat sharing issues. Party sources said, “In one such meeting chief minister Nitish Kumar was also present”.
A public health expert by training, Mr Kishore had worked for the United Nations for eight years before beginning his stint as a political strategist.
In 2014, before the Lok Sabha elections, he floated a non-profitable organisation Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election campaign group he had conceptualised.
