Patna: A young brigade of professionals, researchers and technocrats is working behind the curtains to prepare a never-before-seen campaign in the state for the Nitish Kumar government.

Led by Prashant Kishor, the mastermind behind Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign, the team has been in Patna for the past week working towards the launch of Badh Chala Bihar-Bihar@2025 campaign today.

Comprising around 50 young professionals working under the banner of Citizens for Accountable Governance, the team has among its members graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and Jawaharlal Nehru University. They are working out of an office on Exhibition Road and look like any young professional in a multinational company or corporate firm.

Work is on to recruit hundreds of volunteers across the state, apart from forming teams for research, content and design to execute the campaign over the next three months.

Prashant could not be sighted at the launch of Bihar@2025 and Nitish too did not say much on the 37-year-old except to claim that several professional agencies had been engaged to execute the campaign in the next 10-12 weeks. The Badh Chala Bihar campaign is not even projected as an election project, but a programme under the information and public relations department to highlight the government’s past 10 years of work.

Following the same line, the young guns in Prashant’s team – mostly team leaders or their immediate subordinates – spotted at the launch in Samvad remained tight-lipped on the work at hand.

A source in the group said: “We have been given strict instructions not to interact with the media. We are a group of professional people working on an assignment for the state government. We are not entitled to divulge any information on our own.”

He, however, added: “Bihar has never seen such a massive campaign involving so many subject-matter experts and high-end technology. The unique thing about this campaign is that it is being handled by youths who have conducted in-depth studies in their respective fields, as well as studied nuances of mass outreach programmes. We have alumni from IIMs and IITs, researchers from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, social analysts and even professionals who have worked in the US.”

Other sources claimed that talks between Nitish and Prashant on the campaign had been on for the past several months. The final deal was sealed when Prashant made a presentation on Bihar@2025 before the chief minister in New Delhi on April 8.

Apart from professional expertise, Team Prashant is heavily banking on the use of the latest technologies such as the Web, cellular apps and video-conferencing. A website dedicated to the movement – www.bihar2025.in – was launched by Nitish and accounts have been set up on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Sources said WhatsApp groups would also be created in a few days.

Prashant, a public health specialist and a former UN mission chief in Africa, left his job in 2011 to work pro bono for Modi in 2011. Citizens for Accountable Governance, the outfit spearheaded by Prashant, is modelled on the US-style political action committees that act as force multipliers to political campaigns.

A source said: “A total of 400 trucks, named Jan Bhagidari Manch, equipped with gadgets, including global positioning systems, LED panels, microphones and music system, would crisscross the hinterlands of the state to showcase the government’s achievements of the past 10 years. Videos, jingles and animations are being designed to make this campaign interactive when we go out among the people.”

The government is careful not to project the Bihar@ 2025 campaign as preparation for the upcoming Assembly election. Today, Nitish did not specifically mention Prashant or his team and in fact denied suggestions that it was an election campaign.

“This campaign is being held under the ambit of the information and public relations department,” he said.

The government has termed the movement “one of the biggest ever participatory democratic exercises that aims to involve all citizens and other relevant stakeholders of the state in participatory agenda setting”.

So far as poll preparations are concerned, another group of experts is working with the JDU on election data analysis. This would be used to form strategies for JDU leaders on how to go ahead with electioneering in the coming months. Nobody is confirming whether this team is also associated with the Citizens for Accountable Governance.

Known for…

Some of the past projects of Citizens for Accountable Governance

Chai Pe Charcha

NaMo Bharat Vijay Rallies

Modi Aane Waala Hai campaign

Moditva: The idea behind the Man

Statue of Unity Movement (Sardar Vallabhbhai)

Manthan: Youth movement for setting up the agenda for 2014 elections

Samvaad: Movement against farmers’ suicide

Sankalp: Movement for sensitising women about their rights