Stung by Prashant Kishor's charge that he had kept a channel open with the BJP even after dumping it, Nitish Kumar today accused the election strategist of speaking for publicity. He's young and will say anything, the Bihar Chief Minister told reporters.
"Kindly don't ask me about him. He keeps talking. He speaks for his own publicity and can say whatever he wants, we don't care. There was a time when I respected him...I don't know what's on his mind now," Nitish Kumar told reporters.
"He's younger. Those whom I respected have misbehaved with me, you all know that!"
Prashant Kishor, popularly known as PK, has been needling Nitish Kumar with the suggestion that after breaking off ties with the BJP and re-embracing the RJD of Tejashwi Yadav in August, he could swap allies again if the situation rose. That would make it Nitish Kumar's third flip since 2017, when he dumped the RJD and revived his alliance with the BJP.
"People who are thinking that Nitish Kumar is actively building a national alliance against the BJP will be surprised to know that he has kept a line open with the BJP. He is in touch with the BJP through his party MP and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh ji," PK had said, suggesting this was why Harivansh has not been asked to quit his Rajya Sabha post even though his party has severed ties with the BJP.
"People must keep this in mind that whenever such circumstances arise, he can go back to the BJP and work with it," said the strategist, who is on a Bihar "yatra".
In his multiple attacks on Nitish Kumar, Mr Kishor has also derided him as "affected by age", "delusional" and politically isolated. "He (Kumar) has been affected by his age and has turned delusional. He has been politically isolated as he is surrounded by people who he himself does not trust. And it is because of this nervousness he speaks other than what he means," PK said.
He also pointed out that of the 17 years that Nitish Kumar has been Chief Minister, he has had the BJP's support for 14 years.
Prashant Kishor, who has an impressive list of clients ranging from the BJP to the Congress and Trinamool Congress, debuted in politics as the national vice president of Nitish Kumar's JDU. He was expelled within two years, in January 2020, for "acting against the party's decisions".
Since then, both have taken swipes at each other in public, though they have had a few meetings in between.
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