No one's listening

Janata Dal (United) strategist Prashant Kishor seems to be winning at least the media war against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). At least two press conferences of the BJP's national leaders in Patna, including one of party president Amit Shah, have ended acrimoniously. Shah even accused journalists present at a press conference earlier this week of having an "agenda" as not even a single question he was asked was related to the Bihar polls - they were all on other issues. The BJP leaders are convinced that journalists in Patna are unwilling to listen to their point of view but readily believe what Kishor has to tell them. While this hints at poor media management on the BJP's part, what probably hurts the party most is the fact that Kishor was a key part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election campaign team in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.