Jan Suraaj party founder Prashant Kishor on Thursday broke his hunger strike after 14 days of protest to press for the recently-held Bihar Public Service Commission preliminary examination to be cancelled.

However, Kishor said that his movement to support the cause of civil services aspirants in Bihar will continue from a camp office set up by the Jan Suraaj party at the LCT Ghat on the bank of the Ganga river.

Civil services aspirants in Bihar who appeared for the 70th Combined (Preliminary) Competitive Examination on December 13 have been protesting in Patna since December 18, alleging a question paper leak at one of the centres.

They have also alleged that CCTV cameras and jammers were not functioning at several examination centres and that question papers were distributed late at some centres.

Kishor began his hunger strike against “the ruined education and corrupt examination system” on January 2. This came after the Bihar Police on December 29 lathi-charged and used water cannons to disperse protesting civil service aspirants marching towards Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s home in Patna.

“I condemn the baton charge and police action against the protesting students in Bihar,” Kishor was quoted as saying by PTI on Thursday. “The Jan Suraaj Party will file a criminal writ petition in the next two days against those bureaucrats who are behind the police action against the job aspirants. We will also go to the human rights commission against the officials.”

The former political strategist also said that his party will train at least one lakh students at the camp on the bank of Ganga.

These students will create awareness among the residents of Bihar about the alleged injustices being meted out to the marginalised groups, said Kishor.

On January 12, The Indian Express reported that the Bihar Public Service Commission had sent a legal notice to Kishor for levelling “false, nasty and defamatory allegations” against the government body.

This came after he alleged, during interviews, that the commission sold the civil services seats for Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore and that is why did not want to conduct a re-examination.

Bihar Public Service Commission Chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai has denied any question paper leaks and stated that the preliminary examination was conducted peacefully at 911 out of 912 centres. So far, the commission has agreed to reschedule the exam only for candidates who appeared at a centre in Patna, where an exam official died of a heart attack.

Also read: Could paper leak allegations prove to be Prashant Kishor’s launchpad into Bihari politics?