Manish Kashyap joins Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj party

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 07, Jul 2025, 16:57 pm IST | UPDATED: 07, Jul 2025, 16:57 pm IST

Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, social media influencer Manish Kashyap on Monday joined Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj party. This comes a month after Kashyap had resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He joined the Jan Suraaj party with a bunch of supporters in the presence of Kishor in Patna.

With close to one crore subscribers on his YouTube channel, Kashyap enjoys a massive digital following. He first garnered national attention a few years ago when he was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police for allegedly circulating fake videos that showed Bihari migrants being mistreated in Tamil Nadu. Despite the controversy, his popularity surged among a section of the youth, particularly in Bihar.

Kashyap was inducted into the BJP prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but the party did not offer him a ticket to contest. In June this year, he released a video message announcing his resignation, alleging that the BJP had "used" him for political mileage during the Delhi assembly polls and abandoned him afterwards.

Jan Suraaj Party to fight polls on 'school bag' symbol

Last month, the Election Commission of India officially allotted the election symbol "school bag" to the Jan Suraj Party ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar. The party's entire 243 candidates will now contest under this new symbol. Party leaders expressed satisfaction with the Election Commission's decision, stating that the symbol resonates deeply with their mission of ushering in reform and social upliftment through structured policy and inclusive development.

Bihar Assembly Elections 2025

It should be noted here that the Legislative Assembly election for all 243 constituencies in Bihar is scheduled to be held in October or November 2025. The previous assembly elections were held in October–November 2020. After the election, the National Democratic Alliance formed the state government, with Nitish Kumar becoming Chief Minister. Later, In August 2022 Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) snapped ties with NDA and formed the government with RJD-led Mahagathbandhan. Later, In January 2024 Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) snapped ties with RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and again formed the government with BJP-led NDA.