Nitish Kumar elevates Prashant Kishor as vice-president of JD(U)

NEW DELHI: Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar appointed Prashant Kishor as the party?s vice president, effectively making him the second most powerful person in the party over a month after he joined it.nnHaving worked for a number of parties as a poll strategist, Kishor has emerged as a trusted aide to the Bihar chief minister who would count on his relations across party lines and campaign skills to steer the JD(U) to success in the Lok Sabha polls.nnParty spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said Kishor?s appointment would help it reach out to social segments outside its traditional support base as he counted his skills and past track record as a valuable asset for the Bihar-based party.nnHe will help the party chart a new course outside the traditional methods of socialist politics, Tyagi said.nnHowever, the rapid rise of Kishor, who is in his early 40s, is likely to cause heartburn among JD(U)?s senior leaders as Kumar has come to rely increasingly on him for managing the party?s political affairs.nnKishor was associated with the successful prime ministerial bid of Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha election.nnFeeling sidelined, he then worked for the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance in Bihar, which delivered the BJP a humiliating defeat in the 2015 assembly polls. He consequently worked for the Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.nn nnSource: Press Trust of India