National Vice-President of the JDU, Prashant Kishor, claimed that Narendra Modi will again return as the Prime Minister of India on Monday. The former campaign manager of PM Modi’s further claimed that though Nitish Kumar enjoys a big stature in the NDA, it will be unfair to view him as a claimant for the top post even in case the BJP does not get a clear mandate.
In a recent media interaction, Prashant Kishor urged, “Narendra Modi is the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate and he will return as the Prime Minister again. Nitish Kumar will have a role to play, of course. Among NDA constituents, the JDU is the third largest after the BJP and the Shiv Sena. But nothing more should be read into this”.
When asked about his recent visit to Maharashtra to meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Kishor stated that the Shiv Sena chief invited him for a meeting. “The party is an NDA constituent and so there is nothing out of place in both of us (Thackeray and Kishor) having discussions. The speculations of my helping them with poll strategy do not have any substance. I am now a member of a party and cannot offer such professional assistance,” he told reporters.
Earlier an election campaign strategist, Prashant Kishor joined active politics last year. Now he is the National Vice-President of the Janata Dal (United). As an election strategist, his claim to fame was 2014 general elections where he managed the poll campaign of the saffron party. He later also managed the campaign of JDU chief Nitish Kumar in Bihar assembly election in 2015.
Speaking about the meeting with Thackeray, whose party is often accused of violent attacks on the people of UP and Bihar, the JDU Vice-President stated, “the issue of the safety of Biharis living in Maharashtra was taken up. I said that in Bihar, the JDU would ensure the well-being of Maharashtrians and expressed hope that his party would respond in kind”.
When asked about allegations made by the opposition including that of the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar under Nitish Kumar’s leadership, Kishor uttered that statistics present a completely contrary story. “People often say it is the first term of Kumar, from 2005-2010, when the law and order situation was the best. Perhaps it was because people experienced a welcome change from the days when Bihar, comprising only 10 per cent of the country’s total population, witnessed more than 20 per cent of incidents of robberies and other crimes,” added Prashant Kishor.
The former poll strategist also urged that there is further need for strengthening the law and order situation in the state and went on to add, “Statistics say that the law and order situation today is even better than what it was during Kumar’s first tenure”. He further continued that people are getting used to peace and order and expectations are getting high on day-to-day basis. “This is not something we can complain about, but must gear up and face as a challenge,” he added.
Coming back to his statement on PM Modi, it would be no exaggeration to predict that PM Modi would comfortably retain the PM Chair again. Various surveys too had predicted the return of the saffron Party.
