‘Will work to strengthen Jan Suraaj’: Prashant pulls out of Bihar battle
Patna: In a significant development, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Wednesday announced that he will not contest the Bihar Assembly polls, a decision, he claimed, was taken by the party for its greater good.
In an exclusive interview, the former political strategist also said a “tally of less than 150 seats” for Jan Suraaj will be considered a defeat. “If Jan Suraaj Party wins the Bihar polls, it will have a nationwide impact. The compass of national politics will point in a different direction,” Kishor asserted.
The Bihar polls will be held in two phases, on November 6 and November 11, and the counting will take place on November 14.
“The party has decided that I should not contest the Assembly polls. And therefore, the party has announced another candidate from Raghopur, against Tejashwi Yadav. It was a decision we took in the larger interest of the party. If I were to contest, it would have distracted me from the necessary organisational work,” Kishor said. The announcement by Kishor, known for crafting several winning campaigns behind the scenes, including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, drew reactions from his political rivals, including the RJD.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary said: “Kishor has realised that he and his party will face a humiliating defeat. That is why he has announced that he will not contest. He has accepted defeat for the Jan Suraaj Party even before going to the battlefield.”
When asked what he thought of his party’s prospects in the elections, the 48-year-old Kishor said, “I can say with certainty that we will be either winning handsomely or receiving a drubbing. I have been stating on record that I expect a tally of either fewer than 10 seats or more than 150 seats. There is no possibility of anything in between”.
Kishor, who recently said the JD(U) would struggle to win even “25 seats” in the 243-strong assembly, claimed that the picture has only grown bleaker for the party headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“The NDA is definitely on its way out and Nitish Kumar will not return as chief minister”, asserted Kishor, who has worked closely with the JD(U) supremo.
