Prashant Kishor Launches Jan Suraaj Party, Former Diplomat to be Working President

New Delhi: Former political strategist Prashant Kishor formally launched the Jan Suraaj Party in Patna on Wednesday (October 2).

The party’s launch comes a year before assembly elections are due in Bihar – in which Kishor has said it will contest from all of the state’s 243 seats – and exactly two years after he launched a state-wide padyatra (march) for his Jan Suraaj campaign.

Former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav as well as diplomat-turned-politician Pavan Varma were among those present at the Jan Suraaj Party’s launch at Patna’s Veterinary Ground.

At the party’s launch, Kishor announced Manoj Bharti, a former diplomat who has served as India’s ambassador the Belarus, Ukraine, Indonesia and Timor-Leste, as the Jan Suraaj Party’s working president.

Addressing supporters, Kishor said they had joined with the Jan Suraaj “not because someone wants to become chief minister or MLA” but with the aim that “you can see, once in your lifetime, people from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra come to Bihar to earn their livelihood.”

In July, Kishor announced that work was on to form the Jan Suraaj Party by October 2, adding that this was to “give a better alternative that would end decades of misery and ensure a better future for the children of Bihar”.

“As promised, I will not be seeking any post in the party and will continue with my grassroots outreach for the next many months,” Kishor also said.

Speaking to The Hindu last week, Kishor denied that the Jan Suraaj Party would ally with the BJP – which is part of a ruling alliance with the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar as well as in the Union government – to come to power in the state.

“I will never shake hands with the BJP. There would be no need of it,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

He also said the party would end prohibition in Bihar were it to come to power.

Before launching the Jan Suraaj campaign in 2022 Kishor denied that he was forming a political party but acknowledged the possibility that the campaign could eventually sprout a party in the future.