Giving a private consulting company access to information before the public get to know about it could be problematic, many opine
In the upmarket Buddha Colony in Patna, an apartment on the top floor of a four-storey residential building serves as the registered address of Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd. The rented apartment houses a few employees of the Prashant Kishor headed Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), whose office is located at Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's residence at Number 7, Strand Road. The directors of this company – Rishiraj Singh, Pratik Jain and Vinesh Chandel – are all Prashant Kishor's proteges and part of the team strategising to ensure a Congress victory in the Punjab elections in 2017.
This company wouldn't have raised many eyebrows had it not been for the fact that Prashant Kishor is the advisor to Nitish Kumar. Kishor has been given the responsibility to supervise a team of private recruits who will play a crucial role in implementing Nitish's pet schemes for the Bihar Vikas Mission. As a member of the governing body of the mission, Kishor and his team, that will reportedly swell to over 1,000 recruits at different levels of the administration, will be part of the decision making apparatus of the Bihar government.
This private army of technocrats, as reported by dna on Tuesday, will have a foot in the door of the Bihar government. A gazette notification of the Bihar government in January defines the mission's role to include virtually every aspect of development for Bihar envisaged in the state's budget. Indian PAC Consultancy Pvt Ltd hasn't spelled out its business objectives in a Memorandum of Association as of yet. But if Political Action Committees in the US (on which Kishor has modeled his IPAC) were to be studied, then the consultancy company is likely to be in the business of getting funds from corporate houses or other entities and using them to ensure victories and defeats of certain candidates. It is unclear whether, as part of the Bihar government, the firsthand information available to this company would be supplied to big businesses as a return on their investment, enabling them to bag lucrative contracts for various development works across Bihar.
Many in Bihar suspect that giving a private consulting company owned by Kishor's aides access to the information before the public get to know about it could be problematic. "There is no need to hire outsiders to do a job that the bureaucracy is competent enough to do. This is a dangerous development for Bihar. It is only through access to sensitive government information that Kishor was able to make Nitish Kumar win Bihar elections," says CP Thakur, Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP.
dna's mails to Rishi Raj Singh and Pratik Jain – the directors of Indian PAC Consultancy Pvt Ltd – to explain the purpose for establishing the company in Bihar went unanswered. When contacted Prashant Kishor said, "Neither me nor anyone from my team will respond on the issue." He said he was travelling and would positively get in touch once he returns to Delhi.
Although concerns remain about Kishor's move to make a business proposition out of politics, some say it is too early to take a cynical view on the events unfolding in Bihar. Pavan Verma, Rajya Sabha MP, JD(U) says, "This is only to ensure that outside professionals buttress the competency of a capable bureaucracy in Bihar. Decisions with regards to tenders are the exclusive preserve of the government and due process will be followed. I can assure you one thing. Everything will be done transparently and in full public view."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Prashant Kishor")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}