Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that Prashant Kishor makes statements to get publicity, a day after the political strategist-turned-politician claimed that the Janata Dal (United) chief is still in touch with the Bharatiya Janata Party, ANI reported.
In August, Kumar had quit as the chief minister after snapping ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. A day later, he again took oath as the chief minister of Bihar with support from the Grand Alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties.
In a video statement on Thursday, Kishor claimed that the Bihar chief minister still has channels open with the BJP. He said that the proof for his claim was the fact that Harivansh Narayan Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP of the Janata Dal (United) still held the post of the deputy chairman of the Upper House, even as his party has parted ways with the BJP.
“It is difficult to understand if he [Nitish Kumar] has come out of the alliance, why one of his MPs is still holding an important position in Rajya Sabha?” Kishor, who was once a general secretary of the Janata Dal (United) asked in the video.
Kishor added he was not convinced that Kumar would help in forming an alliance of the Opposition parties at the national level.
On Friday, however, Kumar dismissed the comments made by Kishor. When asked by reporters to respond on the matter, the chief minister said: “Why do you even ask me about him? Please don’t ask questions about him. He is young and he makes statements to gain publicity...He can say whatever he wants.”
Kumar also said that he had respect for Kishor earlier, but was treated in a bad manner in return.
The Janata Dal (United) had expelled Kishor from the party in January 2020 after he criticised Kumar for staying in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance even after the Union government introduced the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
Kishor’s political consultancy firm I-PAC is still operational. But after devising successful poll campaigns for the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu in May 2021, he announced that he will not work as a political strategist anymore.
A year later, he announced that he would undertake a 3,000-kilometres march in Bihar called “Jan Suraaj”. The announcement came after he declined to join the Congress following multiple meetings with the party leaders.
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