Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Feb 26: Former chief minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy, seems to have concluded that election strategist, Prashant Kishor, holds the cards which can help his party come up trumps by recovering from the unenviable situation it finds itself in now, in the next state assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2023.
It is learnt that Kumaraswamy already has held two rounds of discussions with Prashant Kishor. Kumaraswamy seems to have more faith in the modern-day strategist than the acumen of his father, H D Deve Gowda, who is the national president of the JD(S) and is treated by many as the grandsire of Indian politics, having succeeded in becoming chief minister of Karnataka by sidelining stalwarts like Ramakrishna Hegde and even becoming the Prime Minister once.
Kumaraswamy agreed that he indeed is in discussions with Prashant Kishor and that he has full faith in Prashant's abilities to brighten the party's fortunes in the next three years. He said that Prashant Kishor has agreed to help the party in preparing the election strategy. He also exuded confidence in his party, the JD(S) rising to power in the state on its own in 2023.
Prashant Kishor has risen to fame with his strategic advice on winning election to a few parties. JD(S) which most people regard as a family party, has never tried modern election strategies which Prashant Kishor is known for. Kumaraswamy was in power in spite of the fact that the Congress had more MLAs, till Yediyurappa turned the tables against the opposition by staging Operation Lotus in July last year.
It is said that Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda agreed to change their old ways and acclimatize themselves to modern strategies as there is the question of survival of their party. Towards this end, the party has decided to consult Prashant Kishor to brighten its prospects. Prashant, it is gathered, will soon visit the city to take stock of the situation, even though no time frame has been fixed. As a first step towards lending buoyancy to the party, the senior leaders might give a new look to the party by giving strategic posts to young and dynamic leaders.
Prashant Kishor became famous due to his association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, initially. Then he worked with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, the Congress and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy. He also worked with the Shiv Sena and Arvind Kejriwal. Now he is working for West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. He is also scheduled to be associated with the DMK in Tamil Nadu shortly.