Tactician for all seasons: Where is Prashant Kishor heading next?

In his engagements with the big leaguers, Kishor could have got anything for the asking if only he was more tactful with the bosses

Success engenders unwanted speculation. For Prashant Kis­h­or, the current round of Asse­m­bly elections brought a double windfall. He won West Bengal for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Tamil Nadu for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), although he is loath to call himself a catalyst. But he would also baulk at being label­led a backroom boy. It’s hard to characterise Kishor, who can be described approximately as a political strategist-cum-adviser to leaders, encompassing the gamut from the right to centre and left-of-centre. He’s probably more than what the appell­ations signify. Mamata Ban­erjee, the TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister, wanted