The return of PK

Once worked behind the scenes to shape the political fortunes of others, Prashant Kishor is now ready for his second coming with the launch of Jan Suraaj Party. His target? 130 seats in Bihar Assembly elections next year, writes ADITI PHADNIS

- ADITI PHADNIS

It still doesn't have a symbol. Nor does it have a flag yet. And recognition from the Election Commission of India (ECI) is still "in the process."

But what the Jan Suraaj Party does have in abundance is audacity and chutzpah. At the formal launch of his party, its founder and political strategist Prashant Kishor Pandey, aka PK, told his team he would be "extremely disappointed if we get anything less than 130 seats" in the Assembly elections in Bihar (243 seats) due next year.

"We expect to form a government on our own. That's his target," says Pavan Varma, a former Rajya Sabha MP from the Janata Dal (United) and now a mentor and advisor to the Jan Suraaj Party.

The party was born from a grassroots movement on October 2, 2022, when Kishor launched a padyatra from Bhitiharwa in West Champaran (where Mahatma Gandhi set up a school for employable education in 1917).

The movement tasted electoral success last year when Afaq Ahmad, a candidate supported by Jan Suraaj Party, became a Member of the Legislative Council from the Teachers' constituency.

Kishor and his followers have walked through most of Bihar's 38 districts. The party claims over 10 million members and has more traction among the educated, particularly retired government servants. Around 20 former IAS and IPS officers are paid-up members, with Manoj Bharti, a former Indian ambassador from IIT Mumbai and Delhi, and a Dalit from Madhubani, serving as its first acting president.