Nitish Kumar makes poll strategist Prashant Kishor his deputy in JD(U)

PATNA: Just a month after he joined JD (U), poll strategist Prashant Kishor was on Tuesday appointed the national vice-president of the party helmed by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

First-ever appointee to the post, the 41-year-old is credited with having played an instrumental role in the election wins of PM Narendra Modi and Nitish in 2014 parliamentary and 2015 assembly elections resepectively.

Kishor was handed over the JD (U) membership certificate by Nitish in Patna on September 16. Sources claimed Nitish had then told party workers Kishor was the JD (U)’s “political future”.

“Kishor has now become de jure number 2 in the party... It can be said to some extent that Nitish is seeing his political successor in Kishor,” said a senior party functionary.

Soon after his elevation, Kishor pledged his commitment to the party and Nitish’s ideologies. “I am heartily thankful to the JD (U) and its leadership for giving me this responsibility and respect. I am committed to Nitish Ji’s ideology of development with justice, and Bihar,” tweeted the public health specialist who worked with the UN as its mission chief in Africa till 2011.

Party functionaries welcomed the development. “Since parliamentary and assembly elections are round the corner, Kishor’s track record of ensuring electoral victories will definitely prove beneficial for the party,” JD (U) national general secretary Pavan Kumar Varma told TOI.

Asked about the party vice-president’s role and responsibilities, JD (U) secretary general KC Tyagi said Kishor would look after the entire party activities. “He will also use his electoral acumen for the party’s holistic development and expansion with the help of modern technologies,” he said.

A native of Bihar’s Rohtas district, Kishor has of late been vehemently defending the party and the Nitish government. Queried on Twitter about the October 6 incident in which 36 girls at a government residential school at Supaul were allegedly attacked by locals for resisting obscene comments, Kishor had tweeted, “Every time a state fails to protect the most vulnerable of its people, it serves as a reminder for it to be more proactive and work harder. I join my voice with all those who are appalled at this horrific incident… Having said that @nitishkumar does not require me or anyone else to ‘wake’ his conscience. ... The government is taking necessary action to bring the perpetrators to justice. Nine people have already been arrested.”

The opposition RJD, meanwhile, was not surprised. “When Nitish has publicly said Kishor is his political successor and future of his party, it was quite natural for Nitish to make his his official number 2,” said RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari.