Patna: One of the factors in Nitish Kumar’s victory in Bihar is the man who once crafted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national election campaign – Prashant Kishor.
In politics, Mr Kishor has emerged as the man with the Midas touch.
Mr Kishor started prepping his strategy for Nitish Kumar’s re-election as Bihar Chief Minister way back in May.
“Nitish Kumar is one of the most credible politicians and he established governance and rule of law in a challenging state like Bihar,” Mr Kishor, who belongs to Buxar in Bihar, had told NDTV at the time.
Mr Kishor trained as a public health expert. He quit a UN job in Africa in 2011 to return to India and form a team of young professionals who worked to project Mr Modi as the face of good governance for the Gujarat elections in 2012 and then the national election last year.
The 37-year-old scripted an innovative campaign for PM Modi, which included the wildly successful “chai pe charcha” or discussions over tea.
His team of professionals included mostly MBAs and Ivy League and IIT graduates.
Sources say Mr Kishor’s tested strategy is perception-building, or creating a victory buzz around a party. For Nitish Kumar, the ‘chai pe charcha’ morphed to “parcha pe charcha” or discussion over pamphlets, which asked people for feedback on the state government’s performance in the last 10 years. Some 400 trucks with LED monitors were sent across to villages with the pamphlets.
In a throwback to the ‘Bal Narendra’ series eulogising the Prime Minister, a “Munna se Nitish” comic series was launched and it showed Nitish Kumar as an honest, respectful and brave boy who grew up to be Chief Minister.
After the national election, Mr Kishor reportedly took a year-long break to explore his options.
He also worked in the past with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s team in Amethi, but not for long.
NDTV
