“I have told Mamata di that mere arithmetic can’t defeat Modi. The voter gives you a brief. Stick to that. Don’t breach that brief. Focus on Bengal and only issues that concern Bengal and the voters here.”

The chief minister is certainly listening.

Those familiar with her style are surprised. In the interest of the state, hopefully one will see that change percolate deeper in the realm of governance. For the bureaucracy in Bengal still seems disenchanted with its ‘autocratic’ leader.

“Bengal is not a done deal,” says Kishor, though the buzz in the air is that 2021 could well add another feather in his cap. But, of course, a week is a long time in politics, and a year a lifetime.