Won't be part of 2019 elections, says Prashant Kishor: Election strategist wants to work at grassroot-level

Hyderabad: Election strategist Prashant Kishor on Sunday said that he would not be involved in the 2019 elections as he wants to go back to the grassroots. He said he had worked enough with leaders. He also denied media reports that he is joining politics. Interacting with students of Indian School of Business (ISB) here, he said for last two years he wanted to leave this domain but wanted to leave his organisation IPAC in safe hands before taking the decision. [caption id=“attachment_3345884” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Prashant Kishor. Twitter[/caption] “I will not be part of the 2019 election campaign in the manner and form seen for last 4-5 years,” he said. The 41-year-old said he want to go back to grassroots either in Gujarat or Bihar. He, however, did not elaborate. Prashant, who formulated election strategy for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 elections, said he never met Modi after he left Prime Minister’s Office in March 2015 till last year when the PM called him when his mother was on death bed. Since then he had been meeting and talking to Modi. He, however, ruled out working with him or drafting political strategy for BJP in the next elections. Prashant, who also worked with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Congress party, said he took up the assignment with YSR Congress party’s YS Jaganmohan Reddy as he had made a commitment earlier. He claimed that Modi, Nitish and Amarinder Singh did not hire him and that money was the last criteria. He denied reports that he or his organisation received huge money for working with different parties.