Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has claimed that Janata Dal (United) and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may switch sides after the Assembly elections in the state after contesting them with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Why? In hopes to have another term as the Bihar chief minister, Prashant Kishor said.
The Jan Suraaj Party founder also promised that he would give up his political career if he is proven wrong. “Anybody can become the chief minister in November, after the assembly elections are over, except Nitish Kumar. You can take it from me in writing. If I am proven wrong then I will give up my own political campaign,” he said.
Addressing a press conference in West Champaran district, Prashant Kishor claimed that Nitish Kumar has become unpopular to enjoy a fifth consecutive term in office “no matter which alliance he becomes a part of.”
Prashant Kishor also claimed that the BJP was wary of declaring Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate of the NDA because of his declining popularity.
About speculations that Nitish Kumar may quit the NDA ahead of the Assembly polls, in view of the BJP’s apparent reluctance to declare him as the chief ministerial candidate, the former election strategist said, “He will contest in alliance with the BJP.”
“I challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to declare that Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister for a full five-year term after the elections [if the NDA comes to power]. If they do so, the BJP will find it hard to win seats,” Prashant Kishor said.
Prashant Kishor predicted, “Nitish Kumar may try switching sides after it becomes clear to him that the BJP was not going to back him for another term in office. But the number of seats won by JD(U) would be so dismal that he would not get the top job, no matter which formation he joins.”
Nitish Kumar ‘mentally tired’: Prashant Kishor
The 47-year-old politician also alleged that the septuagenarian CM was “physically tired and mentally retired”, claiming, “Not me, but the late BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had stated that Nitish Kumar suffers from a serious mental illness. I have been challenging him for long to spell out the names of ministers in his own cabinet, without looking at a piece of paper. He cannot tell the name of the district he is touring unless prompted by officials. It is unfortunate that with such a state of mind, he is ruling Bihar.”
