Nitish Kumar denies luring away ex-Modi strategist Prashant Kishor to his camp

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday denied luring away Prashant Kishor, an erstwhile key strategist of Narendra Modi during general elections, from the BJP camp saying Kishor had himself "expressed desire" to work with him and has since been roped in to work with him.

"I had met Kishore, a native of Bihar, six-seven months ago during which he expressed his desire to work with me and he has been roped in to work me," he told reporters after emerging out of the weekly programme 'Janata Ke Durbar Mein Mukhyamantri at his official residence-cum-office.

"I too took interest in the 37 year-old strategist as he is a Bihari," Kumar said.

On asked about Kishor's tasks, the Chief Minister said that preliminary work has already been initiated by the former.

Kishor, who returned to India in 2011 after quitting a lucrative job with the United Nations to join a team of young professionals, called Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), was credited with sprucing up the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's image through social media in the run-up to the general elections last year.