Prashant Kishor’s New Tweet: “Time To Go To The Real Masters”

Prashant Kishor, a political strategist, started his Monday by sending political tattlers into a tizzy, barely hinting at what his next move will be following the latest breakdown of negotiations with the Congress for him to join and revive the 135-year-old outfit’s flagging fortunes.

The cryptic message came a week after he turned down an offer from Congress to join a committee working on the 2024 general elections. According to sources, the 45-year-old wanted a free hand to make big changes rather than incremental ones, as the Congress preferred.

Mr Kishor’s return to his home state of Bihar, where he had a brief political career four years ago when he joined Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s party, only to leave 16 months later after a falling out with him, was signalled by the announcement.

However, he left enough room for speculation in his tweet about whether he would form a new political party or join an opposition group.

Mr Kishor was planning a tour of the state, according to sources, and was leaning away from the ruling BJP-Janata Dal-United front, having avoided meeting Nitish Kumar since his arrival. They added that he wanted to keep his independence for the time being.

Mr Kishor is likely to interact with voters and learn about their problems during his travels.

He is a big believer in “participatory democracy” and hopes to find ways to advance his work on Nitish Kumar’s 2015 “Saat Nishchay” manifesto, which included piped drinking water and electricity connections for every household and was later co-opted by the union government.

Mr Kishor, defying expectations that he would announce a political formation on Monday, has decided to wait because he believes time is on his side, with parliamentary and state elections in Bihar still two to three years away.

Prashant Kishor began his political career as an election strategist for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 national election campaign, then went on to help defeat the BJP in Bihar in 2015 with a historic alliance between long-time rivals Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar.

He was a key figure in Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s landslide victory in 2019, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s re-election in 2020, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s victory in 2021, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s historic victory against the BJP in the same year.

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