Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar on Tuesday appointed Prashant Kishor as the party's vice president, effectively making him the second most powerful person in the party.
Kishor, who has worked for a number of parties as a poll strategist, recently joined the ruling party in Bihar. He is seen to be close to Kumar, also the state's chief minister.
Party spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said Kishor's appointment will help it reach out to social segments out of its traditional support base.
Kishor will help the party chart a new course outside the traditional methods of socialist politics, Tyagi said.
The rapid rise of Kishor, 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.
Kishor was associated with the 2014 win of Narendra Modi.
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 the Punjab and the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
However, Kishor 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 Kishor's skills can help him navigate alliance politics at a time when the BJP under Modi and its president Amit Shah is seen to be ceding little ground to allies.