Prashant Kishor is an Indian Politician, Political Strategist and Tactician. He is known for declining the offer made by the Indian National Congress party to join the Empowered Action Group 2024 made in 2022.
Wiki/Biography
Prashant Kishore was born in 1978 (age 44 years; as of 2022) in Koran village, Rohtas district, Bihar. His hometown is Buxar, Bihar. He attended a government school in Bihar. He pursued his graduation at Patna Science College, Bihar.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 9″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Prashant’s father’s name is Shrikanth Pande, who is a doctor.
Wife & Children
Prashant married Jahnavi Das, who is a doctor. They have a son, Daibik.
Prashant Kishor with is wife and son
Caste
Prashant is a Brahmin.
Political Strategist
Prashant started his career in Indian politics in 2011, when he made strategies for Narendra Modi in the 2012 Gujarat Assembly Elections because of which Modi was appointed as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He continued to work for Narendra Modi and started an election-campaign group named Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) in 2014 that worked for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Lok Sabha election also. The campaigns that he made for BJP in the elections included Chai pe Charcha discussions, 3D rallies, Run for Unity, and Manthan. After working hard to make Modi win the two elections, Prashant was offered the position of minister of state in the PMO by Narendra Modi, but he refused to accept the offer. He stopped working for BJP because of some problems with Amit Shah.
Prashant Kishor with Narendra Modi
In 2015, he changed the name of his group from Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) to the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). In 2015, Prashant started working for Nitish Kumar of the JD(U), and he won the seat in the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. Nitish offered Prashant to become the advisor of the party, and he joined Janata Dal-United (JD-U) as a vice president of the party on 16 September 2018. He left the party on 29 January 2020, after he was expelled from JD(U) for the statements he gave against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Prashant Kishor with Nitish Kumar
In 2016, Prashant was a political strategist in the Punjab Assembly Elections 2017 for Indian National Congress’ Amarinder Singh. It was reported by many news channels that Amarinder Singh won the elections because of the campaigning done by Prashant and his team. After winning the elections, Amarinder Singh tweeted,
As I have said many times before, PK & his team and their work was absolutely critical to our victory in Punjab!”
Prashant Kishor with Captain Amarinder Singh
In 2016, Prashant worked for Indian National Congress in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, but the Congress party could not win the elections. Many politicians commented about Prashant and said that he should have worked for BJP rather than Congress because BJP won the elections in Uttar Pradesh for twenty-seven years. In 2017, he was the political advisor for the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party which won 151 seats out of 175 seats in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections in 2019. In 2020, Prashant became an election strategist for Aam Aadmi Party in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election.
Prashant Kishor with Arvind Kejriwal
In 2020, he did not campaign for any party but participated in the Baat Bihar Ki campaign. On 3 February 2020, Prashant was a political strategist for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. In 2021, he campaigned for the All India Trinamool Congress in the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.
Prashant Kishor with Mamata Banerjee
In March 2021, Prashant became the principal advisor for the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh and resigned on 5 August 2021. In his resignation letter, he wrote,
As you are aware, in view of my decision to take a temporary break from active role in public life, I have not been able to take over the responsibilities as your Principal Advisor. Since I am yet to decide on my future course of action, I write to request you to kindly relieve me from this responsibility.”
Prashant resigned as a political strategist in 2021. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
I do not want to continue what I am doing. I have done enough. Time for me to take a break and do something else in life. I want to quit this space.”
Controversies
- Prashant’s loyalty put to the question: In 2019, Prashant was the political strategist for JD(U), but at the same time, he offered services to Trinamool Congress for the 2021 assembly polls. Many politicians criticized Prashant for not being loyal to one party. In an interview, Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar who belongs to JD(U) said,
We have nothing to do with his activities in West Bengal. We do not even know what type of services his company will be provided in the neighbouring state.”
- Support for Narendra Modi: In 2021, Prashant attracted controversy when he was heard praising Narendra Modi in an audio clip shared by BJP IT Cell head, Amit Malviya. In the audio clip, he said that PM Narendra Modi and CM Mamata Banerjee are equally popular. This audio was released by BJP when Prashant was a political strategist for Trinamool Congress for the 2021 assembly polls. In an interview, Prashant responded to this and said,
I am glad BJP is taking my chat more seriously than words of their own leaders!? They should show courage & share the full chat instead of getting excited with selective use of parts of it. I have said this before & repeating again – BJP will not to CROSS 100 in WB. Period. I also said BJP won’t cross 100, why aren’t they playing that? I had full knowledge it was a public platform.”
Facts/Trivia
- Many media houses use Prashant’s name as PK.
- After he worked for BJP and JD(U) as a political strategist, he decided to extend his services to all other political parties in India.
- Prashant was a public health expert at United Nations, the United States for eight years before he started working as a political strategist in Indian politics in 2012.
- Reportedly, in 2018, Prashant was anticipated to contest in the 2020 Bihar General Elections. In an interview, a leader from JD(U) said,
If he was to prepare and help only in election management, then taking the membership of the party was not required at all. The very fact that he has joined our party clearly signals the possibility of him contesting elections. Nitish, though, has left it to him.”
- In 2022, South Indian actor, Thalapathy Vijay secretly met Prashant and discussed his interest in politics.
- In 2022, Prashant was offered to join the Congress party as part of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) for the 2024 general elections by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In a Twitter post, he wrote,
I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.”