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‘Like musclemen of 1990s Bihar’: BJP’s fresh salvo against Prashant Kishor

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | ByHT Correspondent
Feb 19, 2020 06:40 PM IST

In his first interaction with media in Patna since he was expelled from the JD(U) last month, Prashant Kishor on Tuesday questioned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s style of governance.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday launched a fresh attack against poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who had spoken out against Nitish Kumar after being expelled from Janata Dal (United).

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“But the public now has become far more aware. It does not vote for goons and ruffians. A ‘rajnaitik dhandhebaaz’ (political dealer) thinks of carving a niche for oneself with money power. Had it been possible then only those with deep pockets could become public representatives,” Jaiswal further said, without naming Kishor.

ALSO WATCH | Prashant Kishor asks Nitish to choose between Gandhi & Godse; JDU hits back

He also berated Kishor’s accomplishments as an election strategist, pointing out “he seeks to remember the success of ‘chai pe charcha’, but wants to forget a failed venture like the ‘khat pe charcha’ in Uttar Pradesh which was disastrous for two so-called young leaders”.

‘Khaat pe Charcha’ or discussions on a cot was a public outreach programme planned by Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) for Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. The party had stitched a last-minute tie-up with the Samajwadi Party led by the then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was struggling to hold his own in the face of a revolt by his influential uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ran an energetic campaign with catchy slogans describing them as “UP ke ladke” (sons of UP) but the alliance was pulverised by the BJP, which pulled off a stunning victory, bagging three-fourth majority.

“It is an overused, poor business strategy to offer free services to whichever party is the favorite during assembly polls in a state and, after the results, claiming success by getting oneself photographed (with the winning leader),” Jaiswal said in Facebook post.

Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi had lashed out at Kishor a day ago, saying event managers don’t have an ideology of their own.

“Event managers don’t have an ideology of their own, but they are expert in understanding the language and ideology of their sponsors. Public is watching that as elections nears, who is talking about Godse’s philosophy and who is trying to be secular,” Modi said on Twitter in Hindi on Tuesday. 

He further said that a person who has earlier announced working for victory of Narendra Modi, should tell the people why didn’t he find anything wrong with the BJP then.

In his first interaction with media in Patna since he was expelled from the JD(U) last month, Kishor on Tuesday questioned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s style of governance and ideological dalliance.

Kishor also spoke about his relationship with his former boss, Nitish Kumar, and said ‘ideological positioning’ and Kumar’s ‘positioning in the alliance’ were reasons for the fallout with the JD(U) chief.

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