‘Let 12 months pass’: Prashant Kishor’s point-by-point rebuttal for Nitish Kumar

Prashant Kishor shot back at his former boss Nitish Kumar after the Bihar CM said that “may be he wants to help BJP”.

It’s Prashant Kishor vs Nitish Kumar again, one sharp remark at a time. The poll strategist on Thursday delivered a strong rebuttal after the Bihar chief minister said: “Does he know the ABC of what has happened since 2005?” Nitish Kumar’s comments - during his Delhi visit - were in response to his former party colleague’s criticism of the state government.

Political strategist Prashant Kishor and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

“Let 12 months pass…and then we would ask ‘who knows ABC and who knows XYZ’?” Kishor - who was sacked from the JD(U) in 2020 - said during a presser.

Earlier in the day, the ace election strategist had tweeted and then deleted a post with photos for Nitish Kumar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kumar had snapped ties with the BJP last month in Bihar as he returned to the Grand Alliance or Mahagathbandhan. He was sworn in as the state's chief minister for the eighth time despite his party not having an impressive count of legislators in the assembly.

Kishor's tweet - deleted in less than an hour after it was posted - was viewed as a response to the JD(U) leader's comments that the politician-poll strategist, credited for many recent monumental poll victories, was probably making comments against his governance because “may be he wants to help BJP”. To this, Kishor said: “Till last month, he was with the BJP. You deliver on your promise of giving 10 lakh jobs and we will agree. It’s god above and you on earth.”

Since his return to the Grand Alliance, Nitish Kumar is being viewed as strong unifying factor as the opposition comes together ahead of the 2024 polls.