Prashant Kishor declines Mamata Banerjee's Rajya Sabha berth offer

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has declined West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's offer to nominate him as the TMC candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha biennial elections to be held on March 26. A top source said that Prashant Kishor has declined Didi's Rajya Sabha offer. 

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The source also added. "Kishor extended his gratitude towards Didi for the offer but has politely declined the Rajya Sabha nomination as he wants to stay away from Legislative Politics for some time". He would continue to guide TMC, as a poll strategist. "But as far as politics is concerned he wants to consolidate his foothold in Bihar through the "Baat Bihar ki" campaign, wherein he would galvanize the youth for the development of Bihar in the next 10 years. Aligning with any political party is out of question at the moment. Very soon Prashant Kishor would travel in every district of Bihar," the source added.

After being expelled from the JDU, Prashant Kishor in a press conference in Patna on February 18 had questioned Nitish Kumar's developmental plank and had also raised the issues that ail Bihar. Kishor had also launched his "Baat Bihar ki" campaign through which he plans to mobilize 1 crore youth. 

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Declining the Rajya Sabha offer is a long term game plan of Prashant Kishor as he doesn't want to commit the same mistake of joining any political outfit very soon. First, Kishor wants to strengthen his political base in his home state Bihar for which a detailed travel plan is being charted out before the 2020 Vidhan sabha elections. Being a poll strategist, Prashant Kishor has access to the political corridor of India, and the idea behind declining the Rajya Sabha offer is that if he accepts the TMC offer it will limit his political stature.

Kishor has charted a long term plan for himself and want to give 5-10 years in the dusty political arena of Bihar carving a niche for himself on the developmental plank and maybe form a political party in the near future. After Nitish Kumar, there will be a vacuum, and he wants to seize the opportunity. Sources say that Didi has asked Prashant Kishor to reconsider his decision but Prashant has his eyes set on the political battlefield of Bihar and emerges as a top leader of his home state in the near future.

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