‘Can’t bury myself 10 ft under’: Prashant Kishor on his political ‘advice’ to an NDA ally

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Many see Prashant Kishor as not an ordinary political analyst. As cofounder of IPAC – a political consultancy he claims to not be involved with anymore – he has earlier worked on campaigns and parties across the spectrum, from Narendra Modi’s BJP to Mamata Banerjee’s TMC.

In a conversation with Sreenivasan Jain, Kishor takes on his critics, answers questions over a potential conflict of interest, and whether India’s electoral democracy can survive a third Modi win.

Kishor says he has been trying to create a new political space in his home state Bihar after working on “political aid” for “10 years”. “For the last two-and-a-half years, I have been roaming around, walking in the villages of Bihar in the search of…my quest to do something in Bihar that would fundamentally change the politics there…I am one of the founders of Jan Suraaj in Bihar.”

But while he claims to work on this alternate space, he has advised certain NDA allies like TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. Asked if this could lead to a conflict of interest, he says, “There are people who are born sceptical. My father, when I was child, taught me something very important. There will always be critics…I don’t owe it to anybody, including your viewers, because no amount of argument, no amount of logic or commonsensical supportive evidence is going to suffice.”

About his meetings with Chandrababu Naidu, he said, “Since my erstwhile firm IPAC…has been working with Jaganmohan Reddy. There was always this doubt in the minds of Chandrababu Naidu that…you are saying that you are not helping my opponent but you are helping. So I went to meet and clarify that I don’t have any personal angst.”

In an attempt to clarify clues that hinted at his involvement in Andhra Pradesh, Kishor says he only advised TDP leader Magunta Reddy as a “friend” “Just to satisfy some of you, should I go and bury myself 10 feet down?”

“Let me summarise it one more time. You may have heard people say that we take advice from Prashant Kishor. Whether they are working with Jagan, Mamata Banerjee or many other political parties, including TDP. It’s because as you know, a bulk of them, more than two thirds of them, including those who are advising Congress, have all worked with me. So sometimes, if they so choose, they can talk to me. And I wouldn’t shut the phone on them.”

Kishor predicts a clean sweep for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but remains elusive about his methodology:. “I don’t have the crystal ball to tell what will be the number of seats. I am saying their loss in the west and north will not be material. I have quantified material meaning 50 or more and in east and south.”

On Modi’s communal speeches, Kishor says, “His campaigning but for two exceptions, which was in 2012 Gujarat election and 2014 general election, have always had these elements that you are talking about and referring to as communal.”

On the shift in Modi’s tone, he says it is “for the limited purpose of probably galvanising their own supporters who under their own propaganda that they are winning 400 might have been found little lethargic.”

Asked about his concerns if the BJP returns to power, Kishor says, “There will be an increasing pace of the centralisation of power and resources. And the second concern, this is from the citizens point of view, the second concern would be, I would say there will be more possibility of more public dissent, agitation.”

Asked about the future of political alternatives if Modi gets a third consecutive term as PM, he says, “In the last 30 years, we have seen very powerful regimes with popular mandate winning landslide victories…put on their knees by the people if they didn't like what was being legislated or what was being pushed down their throat. So in a country where 600 million people live on less than Rs 100 a day, I think no government or no ruler should take it for granted that the support is there forever.”

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When PK told in bengal that bjp will not reach til 100 seats ....he was favourite of these propagandu journalist....now he is getting attacked by the same pragagandus 😅😅😅

rlwvlxb
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Sad Mr Jain got nothing spicy for TRP 😂
4th June is waiting

PositivismAtItsBest
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PK outrightly criticised Modi and his style of leadership. But the fact that he predicted a majority to NDA, led you all to treat him like a criminal. It would serve no purpose rather than pushing a neutral person in BJP camp one day. This is how opposition has lost and is losing some good people who dared pointing out mistakes while not sympathising with Modi. And your cabal qouted each of their audacity as "Paid by Modi". You guys see the political class as black and white - either with or opposite. No one can't be a neutral in ur lexicon.

itz_thesdk
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I remember PK being the Blue eyed boy after his prediction abt bengal 2021, the same PK became the Villain after Predicting BJP led NDA win.😅😅

The one who knows the ground report will agree that BJP will get 272+ in all probability.

princekumar-mjhb
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This anchor is angry because he thinks PK helping BJP indirectly

westmorelandrodgrieus
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Entire anti bjp media speaking in one voice... disbelief that their calculated narrative has taken a beating after 5th phase

leera
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Why PK is so defensive and triggered from the very first second of the conversation ?

reshminandy
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Simple conclusion:
Kishore is acting neutral but in his heart he actually supports BJP.

somiks
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PK has very poor listening skills. Why is he taking panga on every sentence...

jagsjoy
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Why you guys even interviewing him. When he is repeating the same thing in every interview

Singh_shobhit
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20:16 “you are making me an important voice and you are asking me ‘why are you an important voice?’” 😅😂😂

KP-qkld
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The farmer's protest was not all over India. It was only from Punjab, Haryana and east of UP and it should be construed as a dissent from the whole India. Famers from rest of India had no issues at all with the introduction of farm laws. Do is the case with CAA. Only a section of Muslims had participated in anti-CAA that was tacitly and openly supported by AAP, Congress and leftists and left-leaning individuals.

englishwithvrp
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this man pk is clear like glass in his views. I think he will be a great politician if he comes into politics. The nation needs a person like him as a policy maker.

abhisheksingh
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How will you describe an interviewee who doesn't want to be interrupted when he is speaking but always wants to repeatedly interrupt the interviewer?

umaduttbhargava
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303 missed calls from KARAN THAPPAR😅😅😅

ShafieIsmail-juso
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PK is proud about his "common-sense prediction" of elections which he thinks has an accuracy rate of 98+ percent. Since 2021 he is not helping political parties. He somehow gets irritated when someone questions these things. Also, due to ongoing cosmic solar flares he may have lately become hot-headed. Looks like at this time his passion is to help the people of Bihar through politics.... but faces an uphill battle to make even the slightest impact in a state like Bihar.

greennation
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why is this guy becoming aggressive even before questions are asked of him? what is brewing? is a much bigger "disclosure" coming soon, which this person is trying to hedge against? or is his political Padyatra made him loose hope, so now he wants to come back to his earlier job and align with his earliest employer??

StraightTalker-gdjd
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Its so frustrating to watch PK get defensive at every point. There is absolutely no dialogue between them except for nonsensical bickering

talveenrakhraa
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You're calling me an important person and then saying why are you an important person? 😂😂😂

PointOnPoint
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There were lot of cross questions from Vasu when PK telling his analysis about BJP winning, but When PK referenced about Rajiv on media bill he just kept quiet and ended in the interview. Vasu is Mr Pranav Roy pet and they always do calculative interviews to demote BJP and promote Nehru family. Actually this kind of narratives helping Modi and BJP.

therandomthings