Trouble in JD(U) out in the open as Prashant Kishor reveals he’s not managing polls

Prashant Kishor's tweet has only strengthened speculation that the poll strategist is finding life as a politician far more challenging.

Prashant Kishor | Twitter

Patna: Signalling his growing disenchantment with the Janata Dal (United), which he had joined as vice-president amid much fanfare last year, poll strategist Prashant Kishor Friday tweeted that the responsibility of the party’s strategy in Bihar lay with senior leader R.C.P. Singh and that his own role is to learn at the beginning of his political career.

“In Bihar, NDA is firmly contesting under the leadership of Hon’ble Modiji and Nitish Ji. The responsibility for electioneering and management by JDU is on the strong shoulders of Shri RCP Singh Ji, the preferred leader of the party. My role in this early stages of my politics is learning and collaborating,” he tweeted.

बिहार में NDA माननीय मोदी जी एवं नीतीश जी के नेतृत्व में मजबूती से चुनाव लड़ रहा है।

JDU की ओर से चुनाव-प्रचार एवं प्रबंधन की जिम्मेदारी पार्टी के वरीय एवं अनुभवी नेता श्री RCP सिंह जी के मजबूत कंधों पर है।

मेरे राजनीति के इस शुरुआती दौर में मेरी भूमिका सीखने और सहयोग की है।

— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) March 29, 2019

Kishor’s tweet is indicative of how he is finding it difficult to cope with the rough and tumble of politics, a far cry from his previous role that entailed advising leaders on poll management.

He has been facing stiff resistance from old warriors in the JD(U), who find him a paratrooper in the party. Singh is a senior party leader who was seen as Nitish Kumar’s right-hand man when Kishor joined the party.

“Electioneering and poll management is the main strength of Prashant Kishor and when he has conceded that it is RCP who is looking after it, what’s left for him to do?” a JDU minister told ThePrint.

Since joining the JD(U) last September, Kishor has been trying to woo youth and students into the party-fold. JD(U) insiders claim that Kishor was not even a member of the party team that discussed seat-sharing with the BJP.

Had ruffled feathers in JD(U)

Kishor had earlier ruffled many feathers in the party when he suggested in a tweet that Nitish should have sought a fresh mandate after he rejoined the NDA in 2017.

JD(U) leaders say that even as Kishor has been left in the cold, Nitish has been looking to establish Singh as the second command in the party and the current Lok Sabha polls is the best opportunity for it.

As if this isn’t enough, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu recently called Kishor ‘Bihar’s Dacoit’, accusing him of removing “lakhs of votes” in Andhra where Kishor was earlier helping his rival Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.