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| File photo of Modi with former aide Prashant Kishor |
Keshav Tiwari, July 23, 2015, New Delhi, NewsCrunch
As PM Modi gets ready to kick off his electoral battle in Bihar, he will almost come face-to-face with former aide Prashant Kishor, who is driving Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's campaign.
Thanks to Prashant Kishor, Nitish Kumar has already take a lead on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.
He has also deployed print and TV ads, billboards, LED-mounted trucks, led by an array of professionals, from analysts to copy writers, to power the JD(U) campaign.
Why did Prashant Kishor, a live-wire election strategist, quit Modi and join hands with his arch rival: Nitish Kumar.
Sankarsan Thakur at The Telegraph gives a definitive account of what soured between Modi and Prashant Kishor.
It was Modi who initiated Prashant Kishor, a WHO official, who was languishing in Chad, into politics. Modi sensed his talent in spreading the message and exploited it to the hilt.
Modi's brilliant online campaign and offline strategies - from holograms to chai pe charcha -- were devised by Prashant Kishor.
In the course of the campaign, Prashant Kishor started living and working out of the top floor of Modi's official residence in Gujarat, which made him enjoy unlimited access to the chief minister. When BJP won with a bang, Prashant Kishor wanted to have a policy role, assuming that his access to Modi would continue.
In preparation for that Prashant Kishor floated an advisory body, Indian People's Action Committee (IPAC), which would would work closely with the Prime Minister on policy issues.
However, a powerful section of Modi aides, led by no less than Amit Shah, were not to keen on one more power centre emerging. Prashant Kishor blames them to getting him sidelined.
Suffering an anti-climax, Prashant Kishor approached former IFS officer Pavan Varma, who got him to Nitish Kumar, and who agreed to his conditions, including providing unlimited access.
Prashant Kishor now he lives and functions out of Nitish's official bungalow in Patna.