Taking his cue from the BJP, his biggest political adversary, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday opened a ‘war room’ at his residence, 7 Circular Road, to take on the party in the coming Assembly polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set up one before the general election. Not only that, Mr. Kumar has even poached Prashant Kishor, the strategist Mr. Modi had hired.

Mr. Kishor on Tuesday asked the JD(U) to open the ‘war room’ and improve the media cell. He also had a long meeting with three party spokespersons at the official residence of Mr. Kumar and gave them important lessons on how to issue statements and counter the arguments of BJP leaders.

There will be three commanders at the well-equipped ‘war room’. Rajya Sabha member K. C. Tyagi will be the chief commander, assisted by other RS members Pawan Verma and Harivansh.

JD(U) strategist counsels ‘balanced response’ to charges

Janata Dal (United) insiders told The Hindu that JD(U) spokespersons Ajay Alok, Rajeev Ranjan and Dr. Nihora Prashad were present at the meeting held by strategist Prashant Kishor. Two other spokespersons — Sanjay Singh and Neeraj Kumar — could not make it for some reasons.

Mr. Kishor asked JD(U) spokespersons to give a “balanced response” when allegations are hurled against the party and to counter the BJP Ministers on “individual basis.” Party spokespersons were also advised to be in touch with each other on a daily basis.

“Only those who have a complete grasp on an issue should make a statement,” Mr. Kishor advised the spokespersons.

Hi-tech initiative

On Tuesday, the JD(U) had launched an ambitious and high-tech “Badh Chala Bihar” initiative to reach out to the people to seek their ideas on issues of governance.

“Our target is to reach out to 40,000 villages across Bihar in the next six to seven weeks to get feedback on the State’s development and also to involve them in governance in the next 10 years with their suggested ideas,” said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the occasion.

Under the programme altogether 400 trucks equipped with TV sets, music systems, microphones and speakers and led by a representative of Mr. Kishor’s team will move from village to village and showcase the government’s achievements.