Patna: The Janata Dal (United) is likely to field poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor as an NDA nominee from Buxar Lok Sabha constituency in General Elections next year, sources said.
Kishor was inducted into the JD(U) by party president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the organisation's state executive meeting on Sunday. Kumar welcomed the 41-year-old into the party by presenting him with an "angavastram" (stole).
Signalling his importance in the party, Kishor was seated next to Nitish, with whom he shares an excellent rapport.
"If he was to prepare and help only in election management, then taking the membership of the party was not required at all. The very fact that he has joined our party clearly signals the possibility of him contesting elections. Nitish, though, has left it to him," said a party leader.
The Buxar seat is at present represented by Union minister and senior BJP leader Ashwini Choubey. JD(U)’s return to the NDA fold, however, means Nitish Kumar would be staking claim to Buxar and neighbouring Arrah, which is represented by BJP's RK Singh.
Choubey may move back to Bhagalpur, his original base, a shift he reportedly wants himself.
Kishor belongs to Koran village of Rohtas district but his father Shrikant Pandey shifted to Buxar, where Kishor completed his secondary education. Caste combination in the constituency is also in his favour. Like Choubey, Kishor, too, belongs to the Brahmin community, which has dominated the seat for decades.
According to a JD(U) leader, an upper caste candidate contesting on a JD(U) ticket and backed by BJP and LJP will boost chances of victory. If he is fielded from Buxar, Kishor might be up against RJD’s Jagdanand Singh, the runner-up against Choubey in 2014.
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