Knock, Knock. Who"s There? Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister

Patna:  Ahead of the Bihar election, Nitish Kumar doesn’t want his policies to be assessed in the abstract. So next month, the Chief Minister, who is in pursuit of a third Consecutive term, will visit 10 households across the state.  To get some feedback in person.

 

It’s not clear yet if the ten families he will sample – and vice versa – will know in advance about his visit.  Starting July 2,  Mr Kumar’s Janata Dal United will deploy workers to visit one crore households with a four-point questionnaire on whether his promises of development for one of India’s most-backward states are seen as at least partially fulfilled.

 

Mr Kumar will also tender the same form to the 10 families that he visits, he said at a meeting of his party’s workers in Patna today. He was accompanied by 37-year-old Prashant Kishor, who is credited with the high-tech innovations of the campaign that saw Narendra Modi record a huge victory last year. Mr Kishor has pledged his strategic savoir-faire to Mr Kumar, who shares a long and public rivalry with Prime Minister Modi.

 

Mr Kumar has tied up with another old rival, Lalu Yadav, for the election -the alliance of their parties aims at blocking the BJP, powered by the PM’s popularity, from coming to power.

 

A few days ago, Mr Kumar announced that a ‘Vision Document 2025′ for Bihar would be prepared on the basis of suggestions from the public. Among the many initiatives suggested at that meeting with cadres was a breakfast chat with prominent media persons and Bihar Dialogues -neighbourhood meetings – in different states.