Prashant Kishor, 39, is credited as a key force in the BJP's swooshing victory in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Highlights
- The political strategist is working with Congress for UP Assembly polls
- He wants to make it clear to Brahmins that Congress is the party for them
- He also wants there to be chatter about possible roles of Gandhi siblings
Prashant Kishor, master strategist, isn't ruffled by reports that the Congress has vetoed his proposal to name either Vice President Rahul Gandhi or his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as its presumptive Chief Minister for Uttar Pradesh, which votes next year.
What Mr Kishor has reportedly shared with the Congress is this: The Chief Ministerial candidate must be a Brahmin disruptor - an outsider, who can enthuse both voters and grass-roots workers. "There are about five people who fit into that category including Rahul and Priyanka," sources close to him said.
Mr Kishor, they said, has two primary goals right now: To make it clear to the Brahmins of the state (13 per cent of the population) that the Congress is a good match for them; and to ensure that lots of chatter, including speculation about the possible roles of the Gandhi siblings, positions the Congress as a serious contender, back in the game it lost so colossally in the national election of 2014, when Mr Gandhi led its campaign.
"In the last 45 days," sources said, "the Congress has got more coverage in traditional and new age media than the other three main players; it's once again at the centre of political discourse in UP."
Mr Kishor, 39, has a record of 2 for 2 in his election attempts so far - he is credited as a key force in the BJP's swooshing victory in 2014, and as a big enabler for Nitish Kumar's return as Chief Minister of Bihar, where Mr Kishor has been conferred with the status of a minister.
In taking on the Congress as a client for Uttar Pradesh, he has signed up for a challenge with the highest degree of difficulty. In the national election, the Congress won just two of the state's 80 parliamentary seats. The UP legislature has just 30 Congress members.
Mr Kishor, Congress sources said, has done the math. "Unlike in other states, Brahmins are numerically important here and they are feeling overlooked. Kishor's strategy is that Congress has to win its original constituency of Muslims, Brahmins and a slice of the non-Dalit Other Backward Castes (OBCs)."
With those sections, Mr Kishor has calculated, the Congress can win 27-28 per cent of the vote share - that's what's needed to win UP.