As several Assembly Elections are approaching, Prashant Kishore is a name making buzz these days. Prashant was instrumental in handling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-profile Election Campaign which included Modi in 3D and Chai pe Charcha. Reports suggests that he is being roped in by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to handle his Election campaign due to start in few months.
Prashant Kishore with Narendra Modi during the Election Campaign (Image: www.defence.pk)
Prashant Kishor is a 37-year-old public health specialist, statistics whiz and a former UN mission chief in Africa. He joined Narendra Modi in 2011, a year before Gujarat Assembly Elections.
Parallely, Kishore was the mentor of Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), a non-profit organizations which aims to make India a model of accountable governance by encouraging and facilitating greater engagement between the citizens and the political and administrative establishment. Its members consist of people from diverse backgrounds like consulting, media, law, investment banking and public policy.
After Modi’s successful return in 2012 Gujarat polls, he was assigned the mammoth task of handling the publicity of his Prime Ministerial Campaign. Sources say that initiatives like Chai pe Charcha, Statue of Unity, Run for Unity were Prashant’s brainchild. He worked from a rented office in Infocity, Gandhinagar along with his CAG team members. He had a direct access to then Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office and Narendra Modi relied on him in handling Publicity Strategy.
After Modi’s historic win in 2014 General Elections, he is said to have taken a year’s leave. Some sources claim that he was sidelined after victory, as he was not liked by some BJP Party members. While the reports of JDU approaching Kishore might be true, it is unclear whether the latter has agreed to join. A newspaper report says that he refused to comment on his role in future elections.