Nitish elevates Kishor as JD(U)'s vice president
New Delhi, Oct 16 : Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar appointed Prashant Kishor as the party's vice president Tuesday, effectively making him the second most powerful person in the party over a month after he joined it.
Having worked for a number of parties as a poll strategist, Kishor has emerged as a trusted aide to the Bihar chief minister who would count on his relations across party lines and campaign skills to steer the JD(U) to success in the Lok Sabha polls.
Party spokesperson K C Tyagi said Kishor's appointment would help it reach out to social segments outside its traditional support base as he counted his skills and past track record as a valuable asset for the Bihar-based party.
He will help the party chart a new course outside the traditional methods of socialist politics, Tyagi said.
However, the rapid rise of Kishor, who is in his early 40s, is likely to cause heartburn among JD(U)'s senior leaders as Kumar has come to rely increasingly on him for managing the party's political affairs.
Kishor was associated with the successful prime ministerial bid of Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Feeling sidelined, he then worked for the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance in Bihar, which delivered the BJP a humiliating defeat in the 2015 assembly polls. He consequently worked for the Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
However, Kishor was seen to be warming up to the BJP again with reports that he had met its senior leaders.
JD(U) sources said Kumar believes that Kishor's skills can help him navigate the alliance politics at a time when the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah is seen to be ceding little ground to its allies.
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Kulkarni became victim of BJP conspiracy as he grew politically in North Karnataka: Shivakumar
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Bengaluru (PTI): Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar claimed on Friday that Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case, has become a victim of a BJP conspiracy because he was growing politically in the north Karnataka region.
Stating that he has faith in Kulkarni and believes he has done nothing wrong, he said the former minister will fight the case legally by filing an appeal.
A Bengaluru court on Friday sentenced Kulkarni and fifteen others to life imprisonment in the BJP leader Yogeshgouda Goudar murder case.
On Wednesday, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, Judge of the Special Court for cases involving elected representatives, convicted Kulkarni and others under various IPC sections, including criminal conspiracy and murder.
“I respect the court. But there was a big conspiracy in this case. When the police were about to file a B-report, the CBI was given the case to harass him (Kulkarni). Vinay Kulkarni has become a victim of a BJP conspiracy as he was growing politically in north Karnataka,” Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, he said Kulkarni has several legal options.
“I have spoken to his family. He swore on God and told me that he had not done anything wrong. I still have faith in him. I feel that he has not done anything wrong. He has an opportunity to file an appeal,” he said, adding that he stands with Kulkarni’s family and supporters and believes he will get justice.
The case pertains to the killing of Goudar, a BJP zilla panchayat member, in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was a minister at the time. Hired assailants allegedly attacked and hacked Goudar to death in his gym in Saptapur, Dharwad.
Following demands from Goudar’s family and others, the then-BJP government transferred the case to the CBI in 2019.
Veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, under whose tenure the case was handed over to the CBI, told reporters in Chikkamagaluru, “I said what I needed to say when the crime happened, and what I said—that the guilty should be punished and justice should be served—has proven true.”
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, BJP leader and MLC C T Ravi, reacting to the court order, said, “Justice delayed, but not denied.”
