The news which shook the Janata Dal United recently was that of political strategist Prashant Kishor joining the party. Senior leaders as well as the young, still-enthusiastic ones knew that it was another of their worst fears coming to life.

After last year’s epic decision to join hands with the BJP, the party against which Nitish Kumar had contested and won the last term, members of the JDU have been subjected to another blow. Kishor, whose election strategies have often been subject of great debate and apprehension, has now superseded the party seniors’ claims at proximity with party chief Nitish Kumar. The prime reason for Kishor’s inclusion in the party is to act as a mediator between the JDU and the BJP on the question of the division of seats.

One of the innumerable formulae blowin’ in the political wind suggests that out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, 16 each would be given to the JDU and BJP, while four would go Ram Vilas Paswan’s (the LJP’s) way, two would go to Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP, and one each for Pappu Yadav and RLSP rebel Arun Kumar. Kishor’s proximity with Narendra Modi is said to be a key player in this alleged “respectful” division of seats. Although political analysts are unsure why the BJP would concede 16 seats to JDU which only two seats in the 2014 elections and even lost deposits in numerous seats. It must be noted that this seat division has not been publicly announced by either party and is, thus, subject to much speculation.

What Nitish has forgotten is that Prashant Kishor is no magic wand. The chief minister also seems to ignore that nothing short of a magic wand can help him at this stage in his political career. The hope is that his antaratma is aware of the above fact and that, sooner rather than later, it would awaken to it.

Prashant Kishor’s joining the JDU was not a big revelation, given the adopted son-like behaviour which Nitish had been meting out to him from the get go. Actually, the most shocking part of this story is that some people are speculating that Kishor would be asked to contest the general elections from his home constituency. In my view, this is wishful thinking of JDU seniors. They are sure that Kishor would not be able to withstand electoral politics and, in the hope of seeing his disastrous failure, are spreading wild rumours of the said ticket.

You don’t have to be a political pundit to know that Kishor is eyeing a Rajya Sabha seat. His confident body language and positioning with Nitish has created more than a few enemies within the party. JDU seniors are hoping fervently that Nitish does not end up giving a Rajya Sabha nomination to Kishor. The lack of messages from JDU members regarding Kishor’s entry in the party is quite startling. Ex-Congress member Ashok Chowdhary was welcomed with a lot more gusto than Kishor. There are those who are warning Kishor, the eternal adviser, to be ready to go through a completely different life on the field as a real politician.

In my opinion, Nitish would have done better had he asked Kishor to help him improve the state of public safety and development in the state. Maybe Kishor’s education and exposure in other states could have been used to the benefit of the people. Instead, Kumar is using Kishor purely to strike the right seat-deal with his new allies. The sheer disregard with which Nitish has been dealing with the Bihar public is surely not going unnoticed and he will have to bear the brunt of it in 2019.

The Opposition seems to be least bothered by Kishor’s formal entry in the JDU, and understandably so considering that even if he wins the election it would only mean a single seat for the JDU. Nitish has, in recent times, started pretending like he has no worry of complete annihilation in the next elections, even though people like Kishor signal towards his desperation in this regard. As a historically fickle-minded politician, Nitish has lost all respect after his coming together with the BJP. It remains to be seen if the politically active public of Bihar will forgive him for the blunders he has been proudly making for quite some time.

Incidentally, five days before joining JDU, Prashant Kishor had said that he was not joining politics! “I have worked with leaders enough. I am 41, and now I want to work with the people,” he said. The truth of this statement has proved zero since he joined the party after a few days and since then, has been working only with leaders of political parties. We have not come to know of his holding a single public meeting and or trying to reach out to the common people in any way.

Once a strategist, always a strategist!

The writer is a former Delhi University lecturer and author of Voter Mata Ki Jai