Will Prashant Kishor emerge as kingmaker in power battle?

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party could hit both the alliances. (File Image)

Will Jan Suraaj Party’s Prashant Kishor become the kingmaker of Bihar soon? ‘PK’, as he is called by his friends and foes, has excluded himself from being reckoned in any power play in Patna by not contesting the 2025 Bihar Election. However, the former political strategist who was instrumental in making ‘kings’ like Narendra Modi, MK Stalin, Jaganmohan Reddy, Arvind Kejriwal and many others may emerge as the real ‘king maker’. While most exit polls predict that the NDA ruling coalition could return to power, this is viewed with skepticism due to their damaged credibility. The RJD, the main driver of the Mahagathbandhan opposition alliance, is unlikely to get a clear majority even if it emerges as the largest political party.

Bihar Assembly Election 2025

What happens if both NDA and Mahagathbandhan fail to secure a majority and the fledgling JSP gets 10-15 seats, as Prashant Kishor hopes? Earlier, PK had said that he would allow his MLAs to choose their own path if his party does not have enough seats to play a decisive role in government formation. This was interpreted as possible tacit support for the NDA. It was alleged that the Jan Suraaj Party was trying to help the BJP by splitting the anti-establishment votes. However, PK rubbished this theory by accusing BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary of engaging in rampant corruption and purchasing a property worth Rs 200 million. He also accused himself of committing fraud by changing his name multiple times. The worst happened when the deputy chief minister of Bihar was accused of murder. Needless to say, it angered the saffron party.

(Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar)

Prashant Kishor, kingmaker

The JSP maintained equal distance from both coalitions by attacking the BJP, criticizing the Mahagathbandhan and fielding candidates in all 243 seats. Analysts believe the former election strategist deliberately positioned his party to support both alliances. If the party wins 10-15 seats, as PK had previously hoped, it will be at the expense of the coalitions, damaging both to some extent. Exit polls, which predicted the JSP to win 2-3 seats, also predicted that it would surpass the Congress by garnering 9.7% of the votes. Analysts doubt these predictions. They point out that the party that gets 9.7 percent of the popular vote should win about 10 seats.

RJD-Mahagathbandhan strategy

Prashant Kishor tried social engineering by distributing tickets to so-called upper castes as well as OBC, EBC and Muslims. If voters of marginalized communities choose to vote for JSP after PK raised the issue of immigration loudly and promised to stop it by creating more jobs, it could be a game changer and impact both JD(U) and RJD. However, it may suffer more as Nitish Kumar’s party is in power and is blamed for failure to create jobs. Similarly, at a time when both the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan are busy wooing the OBC, EBC and SC communities in the wake of the 2023 Caste Poll, it has tried to reach out to the upper castes by allocating more tickets to them. This move could affect the saffron party, which is still more acceptable to voters from forward castes.

(Leaders of Maagathbandhan opposition alliance.)

As a shrewd and successful political strategist, PK has positioned his party in such a way that both alliances can approach him if they lack a majority. This could make him the “kingmaker” of Bihar. If JSP gets around 10 seats, it could be catapulted into a position where it can dictate terms and bargain hard. Time will tell what will actually happen.