Nitish Kumar On Prashant Kishor

Prashant Kishor has been among Nitish Kumar’s top advisers. (File)

Patna:

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today all but formally expelled close aide Prashant Kishor, who has been needling him on the citizenship law and openly targeting ally BJP in tweets. “Rahega to theek, nahi rahega to theek. (If he stays, it’s ok. If he goes, it’s ok),” Mr Kumar said after a meeting with party leaders and lawmakers this afternoon.

“”Already he works as a strategist for various parties, but I’m making one thing clear, if he wants to remain in the party he will have to adopt the basic structure of the party,” warned the Janata Dal United (JDU) chief.

Prashant Kishor, master poll strategist and JDU’s number two, also got a caustic reminder from his boss about the reason he is in the party. “Do you know how he joined the party? Amit Shah told me to induct him. He must have something on his mind? Maybe wants to leave…,” Mr Kumar remarked.

But days after his sharp words to another senior leader Pavan Varma, the Chief Minister stopped short of declaring any formal action.

“Someone wrote a letter. I replied to it. Someone is tweeting, let him tweet. Anyone can stay as long as they want, leave whenever they want. Ours is a different kind of party,” Mr Kumar told reporters.

The Chief Minister’s comments revealed that his patience was wearing thin with two prominent aides turned dissenters.

Prashant Kishor, the man known to have the Midas touch when it comes to winning elections, said: “Nitish Ji has spoken, you should wait for my answer. I will come to Bihar to answer him.”

Since he was made JDU vice president in 2018, Prashant Kishor has been among Mr Kumar’s top advisers but that has not stopped him from taking up jobs on the side – he is working with both Mamata Banerjee for the Bengal election and Arvind Kejriwal for the February 8 Delhi election. It has also not stopped him from contradicting his party’s stand.

Mr Kishor has relentlessly attacked ally BJP on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act – which the JDU supported in parliament — and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Another JDU leader who has been a vocal critic of the citizenship law – Pavan Varma – last week wrote an open letter to Nitish Kumar challenging him on his party’s stand on CAA and revealing their private conversations about the BJP. Mr Varma was publicly snubbed for his efforts, with Mr Kumar saying: “He is free to go and join any party he likes, my best wishes.”