BJP will suffer same fate as Cong in Bihar for supporting Nitish: Prashant Kishor

PTI New Delhi: Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor said on Tuesday the BJP will suffer the same fate in Bihar for propping up Nitish Kumar despite the chief minister being not “physically and mentally” fit as the Congress did for helping RJD president Lalu Prasad impose his “jungle raaj”. In an interview to PTI, Kishor also asserted that Bihar is ready for a change in the assembly elections expected later next year. Brushing aside questions about the fate of his new party in the state’s crowded political space, he claimed that people will shake off the two rival alliances, which have kept the state most poor and backward for over 30 years, to hand over his party an absolute majority in the 243-member assembly. His Jan Suraaj Abhiyaan will take the shape of a political party on October 2.

Asked if he will contest the election or be the chief ministerial face of the party, Kishor said it is for its leaders to decide. “If they think it will be good if he contests, he will,” Kishor said. Hitting out at the BJP, he said the ruling party has made Bihar suffer for its political benefits as it needed the support of JD(U) MPs for power at the Centre. He claimed that everyone knows that Kumar is in last phase of his politics and that polls cannot be won in his name. “Even his supporters know that in his current physical, mental and political state, he is in no way in a condition to run a state like Bihar.

“Results will reflect it. The BJP will be punished for its doings. The Congress helped Lalu Prasad run a ‘jungle raaj’ for 15 years. People of Bihar completely uprooted the Congress. The BJP will suffer the same fate,” he said. It is the BJP’s compulsion that it has to retain Kumar in power in Bihar for running its government in Delhi, Kishor said. “It knows that its alliance will lose if he remains at the helm, but it is the political compulsion of the BJP,” he added. Asked to explain his contention that Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister is not in a physically and mentally fit condition, Kishor cited Kumar’s silence on a host of burning issues facing the state, be it floods or the rows over land survey and installation of smart meter. Kishor said his assessment of Kumar is based on the chief minister’s relative absence from public life.

“A big section in Bihar is wondering if Nitish Kumar is mentally and physically fit to provide leadership to Bihar.” The JD(U) has often insisted that its leader (Nitish Kumar) remains the face of good governance in Bihar and will continue to lead the state as the face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Asked if he sees Kumar leading the NDA in the next assembly polls, Kishor claimed that the JD(U) leader’s career in coming to an end and that people had given a similar message in the 2020 elections when the JD(U) could win only 42 seats, falling way behind the BJP’s 74 and the main opposition party RJD’s 75.

Taking a swipe at the BJP, he said it breaks up other parties across the country by hook or by crook but has chosen to “impose” Kumar on Bihar despite having many more seats in the assembly due to its need for JD(U) MPs. Expressing confidence about the prospect of his party, he said people voted for either of the two main alliances in Bihar due to a lack of alternative, asserting that his two years of padyatra has been aimed at ushering in a helpful atmosphere for change. “People will rise above caste, religion and mandir-masjid issue to vote solely for the future of their children’s education and employment, and Jan Suraaj will be that instrument of change,” he claimed. It will get an absolute majority, he said, claiming that his party will not join hands with any other formation.