New Delhi:

Highlights
Kishor helped Nitish Kumar win Bihar, has top government position
Kishor was paid 9 crores to draft Bihar development plan: BJP
Kishor has nothing to show for it, is busy with new client Congress: BJP
Prashant Kishor, the election strategist bestowed with a top government job in B
ihar, has decided to sue Sushil Kumar Modi, the BJP's leader in the state, said
sources.
Yesterday, Mr Modi said that Mr Kishor had been paid nearly nine crores for draf
ting the details of a new plan for developing Bihar, and for publicising it. The
BJP leader said the money had been paid to Mr Kishor, 39, through 'Citizens All
iance Private Limited', a firm registered in Noida near Delhi.
Sources close to Mr Kishor said that his defamation lawsuit will stress that tho
ugh he helped create Citizens Alliance as a non-profit policy group in 2013, he
did not ever serve as either a director, shareholder of employee of the agency.
Mr Kishor now acts as a strategist through another non-profit called I-PAC or th
e Indian Political Action Committee.
The "Bihar@2025 vision document", the BJP says, is part of Mr Kishor's assignmen
t, and involves creating schemes for the development of one of India's most back
ward states.
"After getting Rs. 9.31 crore for preparing the vision document for the state, K
ishor neither prepared the document nor discharged his duty as the Chief Ministe
r's adviser," Mr Modi said, pointing to Mr Kishor's long absence from Bihar whil
e he works on the election strategy of his latest client, the Congress, in Punja
b and Uttar Pradesh.
He said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar must disclose what Mr Kishor has contributed
to the government in the last eight months.
"Modi ji has lost his balance after the Bihar defeat for the BJP and keeps using
Prashant Kishor as his punching bag," said Sanjay Singh, chief spokesman of the
Chief Minister's party, the Janata Dal-United.
Mr Kishor's aides say that the nine crores that the BJP is referring to were spe
nt before the election on a campaign called Badh Chala Bihar which involved sur
veying 40,000 villages to collate feedback on what the government should focus
on. Mr Kumar was criticised by the BJP for passing this off as a government exer
cise when it was, in fact, PR for him ahead of voting. The money spent was given
to two firms that Mr Kishor has no involvement with, said his aides on the cond
ition of anonymity, adding that it is a government agency that has been tasked w
ith prepping the report based on the survey.
In November, Mr Kumar was re-elected for a third consecutive term as Chief Minis
ter. For his campaign, he had partnered with Mr Kishor, a unique collaboration b
ecause for the national election, the strategist was a crucial component of Prim
e Minister Narendra Modi's high-octane bid for the country's top job.
Mr Kishor, after a reported falling out with BJP chief Amit Shah, began working
in June last year with Mr Kumar, among the top opponents and critics of the BJP.
Mr Kishor's team famously includes alum from the country's premium IIT and IIM
institutes.

After Mr Kumar won Bihar, he rewarded Mr Kishor by giving him a position equal i
n status to a cabinet minister, but the strategist has not claimed a salary or b
enefits, said his aides.