Real or ruse? Nitish 'lied' about Amit Shah referring me to JDU, claims Prashant Kishor

Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) JD(U) Chief Nitish Kumar sent shock waves across nation in his media briefing on Tuesday, January 29, when he claimed that his party colleague and rewned political strategist Prashant Kishor was inducted in party upon Amit Shah's request.

In a press garing outside his office, Bihar CM attacked IPAC mastermind Kishor with direct statements referring to him about how he can't respond to every tweet someone sends him. Washing his hands off any involvement, he said, 'What do I have to do with any of it? If someone wants to join JDU y can, and y can stay till y want.'

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In an interview with ANI later that day, Prashant Kishor replied to statement and expressed his disbelief. Claiming that CM was lying, he derided party chief for his attempt to tarnish his im in public sphere

relationship between two has continued to sour over past month after Nitish Kumar voiced support to Centre's decision of implementing Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). divide widened after Prashant Kishor came out to be a staunch critic of Act, as well as JD(U) for showing support to Bill.

In an interview with a leading news daily, Nitish Kumar pointed out that Prashant Kishor was a political strategist who worked for several parties, implying that he was t a politician. He furr rankled party members when he said 'If he stays it's okay, he goes, that's okay too. I want to make it clear that he has to adopt a basic party structure to be stay.'

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What's brewing between Prashant Kishor and Nitish Kumar?

re are two possible outcomes to decipher from this:

1) Ruse or real?

public spat between Nitish Kumar and Kishor is misleading and intended as a way to create a false narrative to have BJP on board for upcoming 2020 Bihar elections, in form of a new alliance. split can be interpreted as a sign that BJP-JDU alliance is still intact. 

However, going by recent developments in Maharashtra, when Shiv Sena famously called off ir alliance with BJP over disagreements with seat-sharing and formed an unlikely alliance with NCP and INC, same strategy could be applied here. It would be wise to te that Prashant Kishor's IPAC was instrumental to guide Sena to eventually form a government in State in 2019.

Adding to tensions, senior JD(U) leader Pavan Varma on Jan 21, wrote a letter to party chief about possibility of an alliance in upcoming elections amidst 'massive national outr'

Read | Is Prashant Kishor forming a pan India nexus against BJP to fight elections?

2) BJP confined Kishor to JD(U) to curb his growing national presence?

BJP-JDU alliance has been in murky waters since latter ditched RJD for BJP after 2015 elections. If Nitish Kumar's claim that Amit Shah wanted Kishor inducted into JD(U) is true, n it raises question of wher he wanted to contain his growing influence and presence in national political scene. 

While Prashant Kishor is a face of Opposition for BJP, despite being younger and relatively inexperienced, he still has a deceptively large, growing national presence. Confining him to a regional party without pan-India presence will inevitably limit his influence.

Prashant Kishor also enjoys support from various regional parties due to his IPAC endeavours in Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, West Bengal, Bihar, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. However, most of m at present are part of (United Progressive Alliance) UPA, and this raises ar key debate on wher he is creating an alliance across party lines where Congress isn't main stakeholder.

Does Prashant Kishor want Mamta Banerjee to be face of PM in 2024 or did he purposely start a fight so that he can eventually leave party and float his own party? While eventuality of Bihar's election alliance can be understood, Prashant Kishor's real nda remains elusive, and his political ambitions appear to be growing, real depth of his motive will continue to be debated.

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