(This story originally appeared in on Jan 30, 2020)

New Delhi: Election strategist' Prashant Kishor and retired diplomat Pavan Varma , who were expelled from JDU, seemed to have failed to understand the fundamentals of their party chief Nitish Kumar . It was no accident that a once leader of Kurmis — who make just 3% in caste-riven Bihar — managed to become a five-time chief minister. Kumar’s political gymnastics has been so breathtaking that even Nadia Comaneci would feel envious. His crafty alliance-making has ensured that he lost only the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the 1995 Bihar assembly elections miserably.Observers recall how he has outwitted several high-profile politicians, every time he found them a hindrance to his scheme of things. Kishor’s and Varma’s expulsion is, hence, no surprise. For the record, Kumar was 'Kush' to RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s 'Luv' in their hey days in the Janata Dal, only to part ways and turn his arch-rival by mid-90s. He got together with Prasad, two decades later, as co-architect of Bihar’s grand alliance in 2015 to stop BJP’s grand march, only to dump him and go back to BJP, months after the huge electoral win.Kumar’s 'Acharya' George Fernandes, his ‘Adhyakshji’ Sharad Yadav, his personal friend and costrategist in the fledging Samata Party, Shambu Shrivastav, his Samajwadi fellow traveler, the late Digvijay Singh, and his recent social ally Upendra Kushwaha have all been at the receiving end. Kumar’ only misstep was when he dumped BJP in 2013 over selection of Narendra Modi . However, he wasted no time to return and take Modi’s help to remain Bihar chief minister after he dumped RJD in 2016.Kishor’s and Varma’s ‘execution’ by gladiatorial Kumar was just a matter of time once they harped against CAA-NRC. Through their expulsion, Kumar has also made public his reading of the trend in poll-bound Bihar and his decision to stay firm with BJP by hitching his OBC-EBC base to BJP’s upper caste base to counter the Yadav-Muslim base of the opposition. Kumar may have also sensed that his vice president was carrying out a proxy war for Trinamool and AAP against BJP. By expelling Kishor, Kumar advertised his dispensability apart from planting seeds of suspicions in clients Trinamool and AAP by projecting him as an ‘Amit Shah recommended recruit’.Given that Kumar had once admitted BJP’s Sanjay Jha, one of his current ministers, into JDU, it’s not difficult to believe that Kishor was similarly 'accommodated' as part of a working arrangement. It is also known that a Rajya Sabha seat for Varma was Kumar’s way of appreciating the support the then high commissioner to Bhutan provided to the CM when he sought a hydel power pact with the kingdom. Kishor’s professional preference for Trinamool and AAP in fighting JDU’s ally only exacerbated his expulsion. It is no secret that Varma’s angst over CAA-NRC coincided with his failure to get a Rajya Sabha renomination. While trying his luck with AAP and Trinamool, Kishor may market himself as anti-BJP warrior on social media and explore poll-time recruitment to another party. Varma too may look for similar accommodation while busying himself with professional assignments.