“Ye Pawan nahi, aandhi hai” (“This is not Pawan, but a storm”) – This is how Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Telugu actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, whose pivotal role reshaped Andhra Pradesh and national politics. In the aftermath of 2024 general elections, the national media widely acknowledged Pawan’s timely, albeit inadvertent, decision to unite the TDP and BJP, which resulted in the NDA returning to power for the third consecutive term.
Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP), through its strategic alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is second biggest contributor for NDA after saffron party, and the BJP, turned the tide against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP — a political synergy that also fortified the NDA at the national level.
As Bihar gears up for the 2025 Assembly elections, the political stage is set for a high-stakes battle that could redefine alliances and leadership equations at both the state and national levels. The question resonating across political circles is whether Prashant Kishor — the master strategist turned politician — can replicate what another ‘PK’, Pawan Kalyan, achieved in Andhra Pradesh: becoming the decisive kingmaker at the State and Central level.
Now, in Bihar, another JSP — Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party — is attempting to script a similar story.
From being Modi’s shadow to Bihar’s Battleground
Prashant Kishor’s political journey is well documented — from revolutionising Narendra Modi’s 2012 Gujarat campaign with 3D rallies to steering Jagan Mohan Reddy’s 2019.
Founded by Prashat Kishor in 2013, the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) revolutionised political campaigning in India by introducing data-driven strategies, digital outreach, and grassroots engagement models that blended corporate precision with political insight. Under Kishor’s leadership, I-PAC engineered landmark victories for multiple parties, including the BJP in 2014, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in 2015, and YSRCP in 2019. The firm became the country’s most influential political consultancy, cementing Kishor’s reputation as India’s foremost election strategist.
But after years of shaping others’ destinies, Kishor has turned to his own. His Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) — notably sharing the same abbreviation as Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party— aims to challenge Bihar’s entrenched political order dominated by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Kishor’s critique of Bihar’s current political class is blunt: governance failures, corruption, and a system that has trapped the youth in unemployment and migration. His movement, Jan Suraaj Yatra, has traversed districts with the message of “people’s good governance,” focusing on transparency, accountability, and development.
243 seats, zero alliances: Jan Suraaj’s solo gamble
Kishor plans to contest all 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly, a bold move that signals his intent to disrupt traditional equations. He has vowed to expose and prosecute the 100 most corrupt politicians and officials within a year if his party comes to power, repeal what he calls the ‘disastrous’ liquor ban policy, and promote youth and women entrepreneurship through low-interest loans and local economic empowerment.
The former IPAC head has set off a storm in Bihar ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections with a string of sensational allegations against Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and JD(U) minister Ashok Choudhary.
At a press conference, Kishor not only defended himself against questions on funding but also revealed that he earned ₹241 crore over the past three years from his political consultancy work. He detailed sources of his income, the taxes paid, and donations made, while accusing top Bihar leaders of corruption and criminal charges.
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) — the BJP’s second-largest ally in the NDA with 12 Lok Sabha seats — faces anti-incumbency and internal discontent. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) under Tejashwi Yadav remains influential but is battling credibility issues. Kishor predicts that both JD(U) and RJD will lose ground, setting up a three-cornered contest where Jan Suraaj could emerge as the surprise package.
His political bet is clear — Jan Suraaj will either finish first or last. “There is no middle ground,” he said.
Two PKs, two JSPs, one parallel
The parallels between Pawan Kalyan and Prashant Kishor are striking. Both are identified by the initials ‘PK’, both lead parties abbreviated as JSP, and both are positioned as catalysts rather than powerholders — kingmakers who can tilt the scales of national politics.
In Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan’s JSP-TDP-BJP alliance ensured the NDA’s resurgence both at the state and central levels. In Bihar, if Prashant Kishor’s JSP erodes Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) base and draws away anti-incumbency votes, it may affect the BJP’s standing in the NDA — or even reshape the alliance around new equations.
Just as Pawan Kalyan revived the NDA through coalition synergy, Kishor could either become the NDA’s unexpected challenger
A new political crossroad
Prime Minister Modi’s recent ₹64,000-crore youth-focused initiatives and Nitish Kumar’s hurried inauguration of the Patna Metro underscore how the ruling establishment is already in campaign mode. But Bihar’s political terrain — long defined by caste arithmetic, dynastic control, and welfare populism — now faces an unprecedented data-driven reformist challenge from Kishor’s Jan Suraaj.
Only time will tell if voters will cast their votes to him or cast him aside.
The strategist steps into his own game
If Pawan Kalyan’s rise in Andhra Pradesh marked the resurgence of regional identity within a national framework, Prashant Kishor’s entry in Bihar could redefine the contours of political agency itself. For the first time, India’s most sought-after political strategist is no longer scripting someone else’s victory — he is scripting his own.The 2025 Bihar elections will test whether Prashant Kishor can turn his mastery of strategy into a mandate of trust. If he succeeds, India might once again witness what Prime Minister Modi said of Pawan Kalyan — not a wave, but an aandhi.
