- Prashant Kishor ruled out returning as election strategist for Tamil Nadu polls next year
- He confirmed his political focus will remain solely on winning in Bihar over the next decade
- Kishor criticised mafia leaders in opposition RJD, linking them to Bihar's political issues
Prashant Kishor - whose Jan Suraaj flopped in the Bihar election, winning zero of 238 seats contested - ruled out a return to his poll strategist avatar, telling NDTV's Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal he had no plans to advise actor-politician Vijay in the run-up to next year's Tamil Nadu Assembly poll.
Like Kishor, Vijay will make his electoral debut. The actor, whose Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam is driven by his popularity and is seen as a dark horse, is recovering from negative press over September's Karur stampede, for which his party was blamed.
Kishor did, though, offer a peek into his future plans, and they revolve exclusively around Bihar.
"I will not rest till I win Bihar... let it take five years or even 10. I will not change my fundamentals. I will obviously support operational and tactical changes (i.e., lessons learned from the first election). But I will never let mafia leaders fight for my party," he said.
The 'mafia leaders' reference was seen as a jab at the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, which was expected to challenge the BJP-JDU but ended up being routed, winning only 25 seats - 49 fewer than it did in the 2015 election - after struggling to overcome the 'jungle raj' sneer.
Kishor orchestrated wins for the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (when he was Gujarat Chief Minister) and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United in the past. But, after guiding Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool to victory in Bengal in 2021, he told NDTV, "I do not want to continue what I am doing. I have done enough. It is time for me to take a break..."
He also said then - referring to his brief stint as Nitish Kumar's No 2 - "I am a failed politician."
Undeterred, he dove back into that space with the formation of his Jan Suraaj, but his first foray has failed.
The Jan Suraaj was not expected to make waves; a poll of exit polls gave it only one seat, but the party finished with zero and 99 per cent of its candidates lost their deposits.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
