The Political strategist Prashant Kishor and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met on Friday. Many eyebrows are raised over his closed-door meeting with Kishor, which has been acknowledged by Kumar himself, and happened a couple of years after the two had burnt their bridges.
Kishor, a political strategist, had worked closely with Kumar for the 2015 assembly polls, and was inducted into the JD(U) three years later by the CM who was also the party president back then.
The data analyst, whose clientele comprises the who's who of Indian politics, had a meteorical rise in the JD(U) and he got elevated to the post of national vice president within a few months, triggering speculations that in him the reclusive chief minister might have found his political successor.
However, Kishor's adversarial stance on the CAA-NPR-NRC controversy riled the BJP, the alliance partner of the JD(U).
The JD(U) had ended up voting in favour of citizenship amendment bill in Parliament, only to be followed by a course correction of sorts by Kumar who got a resolution passed in the state assembly against the proposed National Register for Citizens.
Nonetheless, the political greenhorn misread the signals when his wily boss tried to downplay Kishor and caused discomfiture to the BJP.
At a press meet, Kumar said he was once asked by none other than Amit Shah to induct Kishor into the JD(U).
Kishor, once a poll strategist for Narendra Modi and subsequently for anti-BJP players like Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee, flinched and accused his party boss of lying.
He was sacked from the party less than 24 hours later.
Kumar, however, admitted to have met Kishor when scribes in Delhi approached him with queries on Saturday. He also made it clear that he held no grudge against his former associate.
"Hum dono ka sambandh koi aaj ka nahin hai (we go back a long way)," was the terse reply of Kumar.
He also maintained that not much should be read into the meeting.
In a number of recent TV interviews, Kishor had made no bones about his ideological discomfort with the BJP and his wish to join the Congress.
A section of the media has sought to interpret "coming together" of Kishor and Kumar as an attempt by the latter to checkmate the BJP which has left him sore with its indifference to many issues, including caste census and special status for Bihar.
What did Nitish Kumar say about the meeting?
Refuting the speculations of poll-strategist Prashant Kishor rejoining the JD(U) after he met him in New Delhi, the Chief Minister said that it was a personal meeting and should not be seen with political colours.
"Is my relationship with Prashant Kishor new? When I was sick, he called me up. When I went to Delhi, I met him. There is nothing political in this. It was a personal meeting," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
