Prashant Kishor or sometimes referred as P.K. a well known political strategist and former member of Janta Dal(united), The man behind the strategies that helped Narendra Modi led BJP to win the lok sabha election of 2014 with an absolute astonishing majority. Prashant Kishor is in news again after having issues with Nitish Kumar the C.M. of Bihar and head of Janta Dal(united) and being expelled out of janta dal(united) as he criticised Nitish Kumar's supportive stand on Citizenship Amendment Act.
Born in 1977 Kishor belongs to Konar village of Rohtas district but his father Shrikant Pandey, a doctor, shifted to Buxar in Bihar. There, Kishor completed his secondary education. Initially trained in public health, Kishor has worked for the United Nations for eight years before entering into Indian politics.
Kishore's first major campaign was in 2011 campaigning for Modiji, who was chief minister of Gujarat at that time to form government for the third time. P.K. gained public attention for the first time when he conceptualised Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election-campaign group that made election strategies and campaigned for Narendra Modi led BJP during the general elections of 2014. It was his innovative marketing and advertising campaign like the chai pe charcha, 3D rallies, manthan and social media programmes that helped BJP during lok sabha election of 2014.Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of 'Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times' stated that Kishor was one of the most important people in Modi's team driving strategies for months before 2014 elections.
Kishor parted ways with Modi, converted the (CAG) into a specialist policy outfit, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) with others CAG members in 2015. he then worked with Nitish Kumar to help him to win a third term as a chief minister of Bihar.I-PAC, named after the US based lobbying groups which are designated as PAC designed a cycle carrying the message of the CM's seven commitments, with the slogan “Nitish ke Nishchay: vikas ki guarantee" (Nitish's vow: development guaranteed).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.
In 2016 Kishor was hired by the Congress party for Punjab Assembly Elections due in 2017 to help Amarinder Singh's campaign in Punjab after losing two consecutive Assembly elections for the Congress.
This win in Punjab has been credited by some TV channels to Kishor and his team. Several Congress leaders like Randeep Surjewala and Shankersinh Vaghela came on record to openly credit Kishor with the win. Singh tweeted, "As I have said many times before, PK & his team and their work was absolutely critical to our victory in Punjab!".
In 2016 Congress again employed Kishor for the 2017 UP Elections. However, these elections were a failure for the Congress and Kishor as BJP won more than 300+ seats and Congress could only manage 7 seats.
Kishor’s decision to side with the Congress in UP was deemed ill-advised by analysts and politicians alike for the party had been out of power in the state for 27 years.
Kishor faced difficulty in getting his ideas and suggestions implemented and him and his organisation, at best, were supporting the campaign from the sidelines as alleged. Sankarshan Thakur in the Telegraph said, “It was never the party, mind you, that wooed, or even wanted, Kishor, it was always the party’s first family. And that might be central to why the going for Kishor has been so uncertain, unproductive, unnerving."
In 2016 Kishor was hired by the Congress party for Punjab Assembly Elections due in 2017 to help Amarinder Singh's campaign in Punjab after losing two consecutive Assembly elections for the Congress.
This win in Punjab has been credited by some TV channels to Kishor and his team. Several Congress leaders like Randeep Surjewala and Shankersinh Vaghela came on record to openly credit Kishor with the win. Singh tweeted, "As I have said many times before, PK & his team and their work was absolutely critical to our victory in Punjab!".
In 2016 Congress again employed Kishor for the 2017 UP Elections. However, these elections were a failure for the Congress and Kishor as BJP won more than 300+ seats and Congress could only manage 7 seats.
Kishor’s decision to side with the Congress in UP was deemed ill-advised by analysts and politicians alike for the party had been out of power in the state for 27 years.
Kishor faced difficulty in getting his ideas and suggestions implemented and him and his organisation, at best, were supporting the campaign from the sidelines as alleged. Sankarshan Thakur in the Telegraph said, “It was never the party, mind you, that wooed, or even wanted, Kishor, it was always the party’s first family. And that might be central to why the going for Kishor has been so uncertain, unproductive, unnerving."
In may 2017 Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy appointed Prashant Kishor as political advisor for the assembly election of Andhra Pradesh in 2019. I-PAC designed and executed a series of electoral campaigns for YSRCP like 'Samara Sankharavam", "Anna Pilupu", and the "Praja Sankalpa Yatra" in an attempt to change the image of YSRCP. YSRCP won with a large majority of 151 seats out of 175 seats.
The latest is the assembly election of Delhi in 2020, where P.K. was appointed as the election strategist by Arvind Kejriwal. where AAP emerged as victorious with a sweeping but not so surprising (as the exit polls indicated)majority of 62 out of 70 seats. You can find the similarities in the style of speeches of Arvind Kejriwal C.M. of Delhi in this campaign to that of P.M. Narendra Modi during the election campaign of lok sabha 2014.
Prashant Kishor is appointed by Mamata Banerjee as an advisor of All India Trinamool Congress for the upcoming assembly elections of West Bengal in 2021.He is also stated to work with DMK as a party strategist for the Tamil Nadu assembly election 2021 as announced by DMK chief Stalin on 3feb 2020.
From being the chief strategist of BJP in general elections to working with Congress and AAP Prashant Kishor has been successful every time except for the lose in U.P. , Now opposing the CAA and working against BJP in many states will he be able to create that magic again that will be quite interesting to find out.
(infosource wikipedia)
The latest is the assembly election of Delhi in 2020, where P.K. was appointed as the election strategist by Arvind Kejriwal. where AAP emerged as victorious with a sweeping but not so surprising (as the exit polls indicated)majority of 62 out of 70 seats. You can find the similarities in the style of speeches of Arvind Kejriwal C.M. of Delhi in this campaign to that of P.M. Narendra Modi during the election campaign of lok sabha 2014.
Prashant Kishor is appointed by Mamata Banerjee as an advisor of All India Trinamool Congress for the upcoming assembly elections of West Bengal in 2021.He is also stated to work with DMK as a party strategist for the Tamil Nadu assembly election 2021 as announced by DMK chief Stalin on 3feb 2020.
From being the chief strategist of BJP in general elections to working with Congress and AAP Prashant Kishor has been successful every time except for the lose in U.P. , Now opposing the CAA and working against BJP in many states will he be able to create that magic again that will be quite interesting to find out.
(infosource wikipedia)