Strategic move: Prashant Kishor joins JD(U) ahead of 2019. What could it mean for him and the NDA?

Prashant Kishor (left) with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Election strategist Prashant Kishor was inducted into Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) on September 16 in Patna.

The formal announcement came hours before the JD(U) executive meet in the state capital.

Kishor had hinted at entering politics earlier. Interacting with students at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad last week, Kishor said he was done with campaigning for individuals and ready for "electoral politics".

“In 2019, you would not see Prashant Kishor campaigning for anyone in the manner and form in which I have been campaigning in the last four to five years,” he had reportedly said.

On September 16, before the announcement was made by the JD(U), Kishor had tweeted "excited to start my new journey from Bihar".

The 41-year-old was given a seat next to the chief minister at the executive meet. However, it remains unclear what role he has been assigned in the party, having been inducted a few months ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The poll strategist is said to have good equations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Kishor was entrusted with the job of strategizing the campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In 2017, Kishor and his team helped Congress’ Amarinder Singh win the assembly election in Punjab. However, he was unable to guide the Congress-Samajwadi Party (SP) alliance to victory in Uttar Pradesh.

Kishor had been meeting both the prime minister and BJP National President Amit Shah since October 2017. This had led to speculations that he might be given the role of strengthening the alliance between the saffron party and the JD(U).

What this means for Kishor

In an article in The Print, author Shivam Vij highlights that Kumar does not have a successor in the JD(U). Following the exit of the party’s senior leader Sharad Yadav, there has been no clear number two in Bihar’s ruling party.

Unlike its rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), where former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has taken over the party’s leadership from his father and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Kumar's only child Nishant Kumar maintains a low profile and has declined entry into politics.

The absence of a successor in the JD(U) could have made it an attractive option for Kishor.

Kumar has been upbeat about Kishor’s induction into the party and has expressed optimism. Speaking to NDTV, Kumar asserted, "He is the future, I tell you."

Since the election strategist and his team helped the ‘Grand Alliance’ — that included JD(U) and its then allies RJD and the Congress — in defeating the BJP in the 2015 assembly election, Kishor has been called Kumar’s Chanakya.

In the 2015 polls, JD(U) had emerged as the second largest party with 71 seats, behind RJD’s 80. Congress had had won 27 seats in the 243-seat Assembly. The three parties, which were in a pre-poll alliance, had defeated the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which won 58 seats.

The chief minister had rewarded Kishor by appointing him as his adviser and giving him a cabinet minister's rank.

Despite joining the JD(U), Kishor and his team, called Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), will continue advising YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRC) in Andhra Pradesh because of prior commitments.