There was a time when Prashant Kishor, the political-marketing Chanakya of 21st century India, was the apple of Nitish Kumar’s eyes, but now it seems Nitish is looking at that apple through tainted glasses. Grapevine has it that the honeymoon is now frayed. Thrilled with his tactical moves that pushed Nitish back to power, the Bihar CM granted PK the status of a state cabinet minister. It is known that it is only after this that PK’s Delhi Durbar got the sheen, including a bungalow and an expensive car. But a peeved Nitish recently told PK: “I gave you the rank of a cabinet minister, but then, you made Delhi your home. Have you spent even a full week in Patna after that?”
The real story behind this ire lies neither in Delhi nor in Patna, but in Lucknow. Apparently, while taking the assignment of mentoring Akhilesh in the UP polls, PK had promised that he would hammer out an alliance between SP and Nitish’s JDU. All Nitish wanted were 10 seats for his men to contest from. But then the eternal spoilsport and Nitish’s political mate Lalu Prasad poured ice into his scheme. Lalu got wind of this plan and called up Akhilesh. He said that the young man better ally with RJD, which has more MLAS and MPs than JDU. Akhilesh himself had planned to use Kurmi leader Nitish to campaign in the Kurmi-dominated constituencies in UP, but Lalu tripped both of them. And now Nitish is slamming PK for that failed game plan.