Prashant Kishor not sidelined, another matter if he has some misconceptions, Nitish Kumar tells CNN-News18

Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar on Monday underplayed reports of a rift within the JD(U) on Tuesday after Prashant Kishor gave up his duties as the party’s campaigner, stating the latter is still part of the party and remains a star campaigner of the party. [caption id=“attachment_4816961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] In an exclusive interview, conducted by Network18 group editor Rahul Joshi, Kumar downplayed reports of rifts within the party, saying that if Kishor has certain misconceptions it’s up to him. “Kishor is always respected. The biggest thing is he and I share very good relations. I trust him a lot. He also likes me, there’s no doubt about it. But sometimes in politics, all sorts of things come up. If he has any misconceptions, that’s a different matter,” Nitish said during the exclusive interview. On Friday, Kishor had clarified his limited role in the party’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in a tweet while stating that he will not be campaigning for the party. Nitish, however, dismissed the reports of Kishor not campaigning for the JD(U) in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. “Prashant Kishor is in the party. His name is included in the list campaigner since the very start. He is the vice-president,” the Bihar chief minister told News18 during the interview. Nitish also said that Kishor is always respected in the party, but he has a long way to go. He said that Kishor excelled as an election analyst but he is still very new in politics. Kishor was credited with the success of Modi’s electoral campaign in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He was seen as Nitish’s number two in JD(U) after he joined as party vice-president in September 2018. Sources told News18 that Kishor’s role in the party had been reduced in order to placate certain senior leaders who considered Kishor’s closeness to the Bihar chief minister as an eyesore. Kumar also said on Monday that calling someone ‘no.2 or no.3 was just a matter of analysis’, but Kishor has not been sidelined from the party’s affairs. He commands a lot of respect, Nitish said.

#NewsAlert | Kishor is a strategist, not an activist: @NitishKumar tells @18RahulJoshi | @prabhakarjourno with more details

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According to News18, Kishor had clarified his limited role in the party sitting that the managerial responsibilities of the election campaign wrested on Nitish’s Man Friday (and actual no.2) Ramchandra Prasad Singh. “The NDA in Bihar has been contesting the election with full strength under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar. The responsibility of election campaign and management from the JD(U) rests on the strong shoulders of the party’s senior and experienced leader RCP Singh. My responsibility in the early phase of my political innings is to learn and cooperate,” he had tweeted. Kishor’s tweet was reportedly to clear the air on his role in the JD(U) amid reports that he is working on the campaign of YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. Sources say that he has dropped hints that after finishing his assignment with Reddy, he may turn his attention on the Shiv Sena and then take on “more political challenges”. This article has been amended to include Nitish Kumar’s complete statement about Prashant Kishor, which the editors felt clarifies Kumar’s position on the JDU vice-president