Prashant Kishor is well-known as the master strategist of elections in India. Known for his quiet demeanour, Kishor was caught in ‘hate storm’ on Tuesday after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister called him a ‘Bihari dacoit’. Handling the insult rather deftly, Kishor took to Twitter and gave a polite-yet-curt advice to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. “An imminent defeat can rattle even the most seasoned politicians. So I’m not surprised with the baseless utterances,†Kishor said on Twitter while tagging Naidu. “Sirji rather than using derogatory language that shows your prejudice & malice against Bihar, just focus on why people of AP should vote for you again,†Kishor added.Â
Addressing a rally in Ongole, Naidu had said that, “K Chandrashekar Rao is doing criminal politics. He is grabbing the MLAs of Congress and TDP. Bihari dacoit Prasant Kishore has removed lakhs of votes in Andhra Pradesh.†Nearly six years after he planned poll strategies for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the master election strategist had joined the JDU last year. Both Nitish Kumar and Kishor were attending the JDU's state executive meeting in Patna.
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An imminent defeat can rattle even the most seasoned politicians. So I’m not surprised with the baseless utterances of @ncbn
Sirji rather than using derogatory language that shows your prejudice & malice against Bihar, just focus on why people of AP should vote for you again. https://t.co/CYSJNRJ43W— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) March 19, 2019
At that time, Kishore had said that he was "done with campaigning for individuals and he was ready for "electoral politics."
Touted as Chanakya (political mentor) of Nitish Kumar, Kishor’s association with the JDU leader goes back to 2015. Interestingly, he was also gifted with a dozen white kurta pyjamas in order to be shifted to his latest 'neta' attire.
There were also reports about Kishor's planning to work on the tensed relations between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav's RJD, but could not turn it to reality, as Tejashwi Yadav, who is currently in charge of RJD in his father's absence, is not ready to mingle with the JD-U.
The election strategist has worked closely with then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The 42-year-old was in the headline for all the right reasons as his campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections succeed to sworn in Modi as the prime minister of India.
However, soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into the power, Kishor parted his ways following the growing differences between him and BJP president Amit Shah. Post that, he campaigned for political rivals of the BJP, including JD-U and the Rahul Gandhi's Congress.