Jan Suraaj Party to contest bypoll for seat vacated by Nitin Nabin, can defeat BJP: Prashant Kishor

Prashant Kishor also dismissed rumours of a rift with Uday Singh, the Jan Suraaj Party's national president, whose house he recently vacated to shift to an ashram

Patna: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Saturday claimed his fledgling outfit would defeat the BJP in a bypoll to the seat vacated by the saffron party's president Nitin Nabin's following his election to the Rajya Sabha.

Claiming that the Bankipur assembly bypoll would be a "referendum on the first year of the ruling NDA" after its Assembly poll win in 2025, Kishor, however, evaded a direct reply on whether he could be the Jan Suraaj Party candidate.

"The Jan Suraaj Party has decided, in principle, to contest the bypoll to the Bankipur seat. It will be held by the time the NDA would have completed seven to eight months in power. So, the bypoll would be a referendum on the first year of the government," said the former political strategist.

Notably, Bankipur has been a BJP stronghold for decades and Nabin, who made his debut from the seat in 2006 in a bypoll necessitated by his father Nabin Kishor Prasad Sinha's death, retained the seat for a fifth consecutive term in assembly polls held in November last year.

Nabin, who became the BJP president in January this year, had defeated his nearest RJD rival in Bankipur by a margin of over 50,000 votes. The Jan Suraaj Party candidate had finished third.

He gave up the seat last month upon getting elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Nonetheless, Kishor said, "Only the Jan Suraaj Party can defeat the BJP in Bankipur. The RJD and the Congress have been losing the seat by massive margins. Our party believes we just need to field a strong candidate".

To a pointed query on whether he could be "the strong candidate", the Jan Suraaj Party founder cryptically said, "It is a decision for the party to take." "I did not contest the assembly polls because the party felt I should concentrate on organisational work. I shall continue to abide by the party's collective decision".

Significantly, Kishor had, ahead of last year's assembly polls, indicated that he was willing to challenge RJD national working president Tejashwi Yadav on his home turf of Raghopur.

There have been murmurs that his decision to back down had demoralised the cadres of Jan Suraaj Party, resulting in its dismal show at the polls.

However, the 47-year-old insisted that "not all people who play a role in building a political party contest polls. Jan Suraaj Party has been nurtured with blood, sweat and tears of millions of dedicated workers, out of whom less than 250 got tickets, since there are only 243 assembly seats".

Kishor also dismissed rumours of a rift with Uday Singh, the Jan Suraaj Party's national president, whose house he recently vacated to shift to an ashram on the outskirts of Patna and who has since announced a "one-year break from active politics".

The Jan Suraaj Party founder said, "Uday Singh is like a brother to me, besides being a senior party colleague. He continues to be our national president. We respect his wish to take a break for a year." "I had taken the decision to build an ashram for myself long ago after I spent days introspecting at Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in Champaran, after our party's dismal show in assembly elections." Kishor also slammed the Samrat Choudhary government in Bihar for the recent lathi charge on young job aspirants who were protesting the delay in notification of teachers' recruitment examinations.

"The NDA had promised to create one crore jobs after coming to power. It has been six months, and by now it should have created a million jobs if it were serious about achieving the target.

"Instead, it is baton-charging those seeking employment. The government in Bihar seems to be intent on setting a record for lathicharge," he remarked.