Arresting decline: JD(S) ropes in NaMo strategist

BENGALURU: Despite its vast experience in social engineering, JD(S), a party which has been out of power since October 2007, has decided to hire political strategist Prashant Kishor who has worked with PM Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, for polls to the state Legislative Assembly in 2018.

Sources in the party said social engineering of JD(S) patriarch had confined the party to only Old Mysore region and restricted it to certain pockets. Besides, internal bickering in the party made patriarch H D Deve Gowda and state unit president H D Kumaraswamy anxious. While the ruling Congress, through its ‘AHINDA', was eating into its secular votes, the BJP was making steady inroads into its Vokkaliga vote banks. Under these circumstances, the father and son were keen to find a solution. Though the first move was made by Mr Kumaraswamy, who developed a penchant for political surveys, he had kept it under wraps for sometime. During a recent move by Mr Gowda to allow leaders of his party to forge an alliance with Congress for polls to upper House, he spilt the beans. Though there was heartburn among several leaders over the deal, Mr Gowda was willing to take the risk and gave green signal to the move, sources added.

Sources said Mr Kishor had already started basic work and was collecting data from various sources. Mr Kumaraswamy was also working on getting all leaders of erstwhile Janata Parivar onboard, including those who migrated to the BJP and Congress together under JD(U) banner and later merge it with JD(S). Even some of the leaders, who are inactive in politics, would be brought under the same banner, sources added. Mr Kishor started his career as a marketing professional and developed interest in social engineering. When he was introduced to the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, the latter evinced interest in his work. He worked with the team that evolved a strategy for NDA to come to power. Later, he was hired by Mr Nitish Kumar to help him fight Bihar elections. His first suggestion was to form a consortium of groups, which included his arch rivals like Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. When “Mahakatbhandan” was a grand success, Mr Kumaraswamy approached him for help in polls to the Legislative Assembly in 2018, sources added.