Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar has channels open with BJP, Bihar CM dismisses claim
The chief minister said that the political strategist-turned-politician makes such statements to get publicity.
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.
#WATCH | As far as I know, Nitish Kumar is surely with Mahagathbandhan but hasn't closed his channels with BJP, biggest proof is that RS Dy Chairman-JDU MP Harivansh neither resigned from his post nor party asked him to do so: P Kishor
— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2022
(Source: Self-made video by Kishor to ANI) pic.twitter.com/DmMVMZvU84
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.
#WATCH | "...He speaks for his own publicity & can speak whatever he wants, we don't care. He's young. There was a time when I respected him...those whom I respected had disrespected me: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Prashant Kishor's remark that he's in touch with BJP pic.twitter.com/ZPdmQUDSkr
— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2022
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.