JDS holds talks with Prashant Kishor on party revival strategy

New Delhi: JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said he has held the first round of discussions with poll strategist Prashant Kishor on plans to organise the party for the future.

“I have spoken to him (Prashant Kishore)…with a view to organising politically in Karnataka for the future. First round of discussions has happened. I will tell you later,” Mr Kumaraswamy told reporters in response to a question.

Top JD(S) sources had recently revealed that the party leadership, after facing setbacks in successive polls, planned to hold talks with Mr Kishor on plans to revive the party.

The JD(S), which bagged only 37 of 225 seats in the 2018 assembly polls and came to power in alliance with the Congress with Mr Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, managed to win only one seat out of 28 in the state during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Party patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda was also defeated in the parliamentary polls.

The JD(S) later also failed to win even a single seat during the December 2019 bypolls to 15 assembly constituencies in the state.

Mr Kishor-led Indian Political Action Committee (I- PAC) had helped the AAP to win the Delhi Assembly election.

The political advocacy group also helped in the election campaign of Narendra Modi in 2014 when he was the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

The I-PAC has worked on a number of successful campaigns since 2014, including the one that brought JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to power in 2015.

The organisation also helped Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy win both the state and Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Kishor, who was the Janata Dal (United) national vice- president, was recently expelled from the party following a bitter fallout with its chief Nitish Kumar.