Jan Suraaj Party pitches Prashant Kishor as Bihar’s ‘most popular’ CM pick - a look at its poll strategy Premium

Prashant Kishor challenges Nitish Kumar as CM candidate, aims to build a third alternative in Bihar politics.

“Declare Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister candidate if he is the face of the NDA,” challenged Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor on May 30, as he toured the state in his ‘Bihar Badlav Yatra’. Mr. Kishor, a political strategist, who was instrumental in strategising several political campaigns, including those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, is setting himself up as a third alternative in Bihar beside the Mahagathbandhan (RJD-Congress-Left) and the National Democratic Alliance (BJP-JDU-LJP). 

Speaking to The Hindu, on Thursday (June 5, 2025), JSP working President Mr. Manoj Bharti pitched Mr. Kishor as a potential CM candidate. “He is the most popular choice for CM in Bihar. The whole country and Bihar should forget about Nitish Kumar in the coming election. There is just no way that he can be in any position to drive anything in the next government. We are not going to form any coalition with anyone before or after polls. We will not join anyone just for the sake of forming a government,” says Mr. Bharti.  

Since October 2022, Mr. Kishor has been touring Bihar on foot, highlighting key issues like unemployment, migration, and inflation in the State, spanning 5000 kilometres across 17 districts. Two years later, he launched the ‘Jan Suraaj Party’ with a ‘human first’ approach, aiming to build a Bihar where ‘people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab come in search of work.’ 

Within days, his new party’s popularity among the masses was tested. While JSP failed to open its accounts in the November 2024 by-polls held for four seats – Ramgarh, Belaganj, Imamganj and Tarari— Mr. Kishor expressed satisfaction with polling 10% of the total votes in these seats. 

Here’s a look at Jan Suraaj’s origins, journey, objectives and poll strategy.

Prashant Kishor has been active in strategising poll campaigns since 2012. After successfully aiding Mr. Modi in his re-election as Gujarat CM in 2012 and later in 2014 as Prime Minister, Mr. Kishor first forayed into Bihar in 2015. Bringing rivals Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar together as the ‘Mahagathbandhan,’ Mr. Kishor was instrumental in limiting BJP to a mere 58 seats in the 243-member Assembly.  

Despite Mr. Kumar’s shifting loyalties, he retained Mr. Kishor as his political advisor, even appointing him JD(U)’s vice-president and his potential ‘successor.’ However, Mr. Kishor’s stint with JDU came to an end in 2020 after he vociferously opposed the party’s support for the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Expelled from JDU in January that year, Mr. Kishor launched ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ — a campaign to attract people to help him find Bihar its “rightful place among top 10 States of India in next 10-15 years.”