Nitish elevates Kishore as vice president of Janata Dal United

Having worked for a number of parties as a poll strategist, Kishore has emerged as a trusted aide to the Bihar chief minister who would count on his relations across party lines and campaign skills to steer the JD(U) to success in the Lok Sabha polls.

Party spokesperson K C Tyagi said Kishore's appointment would help it reach out to social segments outside its traditional support base as he counted his skills and past track record as a valuable asset for the Bihar-based party.

He will help the party chart a new course outside the traditional methods of socialist politics, Tyagi said.

However, the rapid rise of Kishore, who is in his early 40s, is likely to cause heartburn among JD(U)'s senior leaders as Kumar has come to rely increasingly on him for managing the party's political affairs.

Kishore was associated with the successful prime ministerial bid of Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Feeling sidelined, he then worked for the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance in Bihar, which delivered the BJP a humiliating defeat in the 2015 assembly polls. He consequently worked for the Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

However, Kishore was seen to be warming up to the BJP again with reports that he had met its senior leaders.

JD(U) sources said Kumar believes that Kishore's skills can help him navigate the alliance politics at a time when the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah is seen to be ceding little ground to its allies.