AHMEDABAD: An enemy's enemy is a friend. It is not without reason that leader of opposition in Gujarat assembly, Shankersinh Vaghela , wants political strategist Prashant Kishor by his side when the state goes to polls later this year.Kishor, who managed the election campaign for Narendra Modi during assembly polls of 2012 and parliamentary election in 2014, switched sides to join Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad combine during Bihar elections. A one-time insider who knew all the chinks in the BJP armour, Kishor inflicted heavy damage on BJP in what boiled down to his personality clash with Amit Shah, who is rumoured to be the main reason for his exit from BJP.But a lot of water has flown down the Sabarmati since then. Kishor's flight was aborted in Uttar Pradesh, where he was handling the campaign for the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance. Congress performed well in Punjab but it was Amarinder Singh who bagged all the credit.A shrewd politician, Vaghela seems to be betting big on Kishor largely due to his skill in shortlisting candidates following a rigorous process of data analysis he did for Modi for the 2012 elections. Having trained under Modi, Kishor understands the nitty-gritty of Gujarat's politics, the caste equations and local factors. He played a key role in short-lis ting candidates with the scientific use of data analytics.Vaghela perhaps believes a scientific analysis on winnability would get Congress tickets for more aspirants from the erstwhile Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) which he merged into the Congress. At present, only four out of 57 Congress MLAs in a House of 182 are from the RJP background. Recently, Vaghela raised eyebrows by openly meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is keen on putting up a good show in Gujarat, in a clear signal to the Congress leadership to not take him for granted.The big question however is: will Kishor take up the Congress assignment given BJP's clear edge on Modi's home-turf ? After coming out bruised in UP , many believe he may not take up the Gujarat assignment as he realizes how popular Modi is in Gujarat. Besides, his close aides say that his experience of working with the Congress has not been happy , unlike Modi and the Nitish-Lalu combo who gave him a free hand.

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