Nitish will contest Bihar polls with BJP but may switch sides later: Prashant Kishor

The Jan Suraaj Party founder, however, also asserted that the 74-year-old leader had grown too unpopular to enjoy a fifth consecutive term in office "no matter which alliance he becomes a part of".

Bettiah (Bihar): Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Wednesday claimed that JD(U) president Nitish Kumar will contest the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar in alliance with the BJP but may switch sides later, with hopes for another term as the chief minister.

The Jan Suraaj Party founder, who was addressing a press conference in West Champaran district, however, also asserted that the 74-year-old leader had grown too unpopular to enjoy a fifth consecutive term in office "no matter which alliance he becomes a part of".

"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," Kishor said.

About speculations that 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. He has always done so, barring the elections of 2015, when I had handled his campaign." Kishor also claimed that the BJP was wary of declaring Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate of the NDA because of his declining popularity.

"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," Kishor said.

The former JD(U) national vice president, who was expelled from the party in 2020 following a spat with Kumar, also claimed that the ruling party was "going to do very badly" (in the polls).

"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," Kishor predicted.

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."

He also maintained that Kumar had "brought disrepute to Bihar by touching the feet of Modi last year, in the presence of many other chief ministers, when the new Union government was being sworn in."

"If he has so much of reverence for the PM, he could have touched the latter's feet in private. But he is resorting to sycophancy merely to keep himself in the chair. Why does he not use his clout with the BJP, which is now dependent on JD(U)'s support to survive in power at the Centre, to revive the moribund sugar industry in Bihar?" Kishor asked.

He said the Jan Suraaj Party will enter the fray in a bid to pull Bihar "out of the political rut which has been held hostage for decades by Kumar and his arch-rival Lalu Prasad, the RJD president".

Of course, the BJP and the Congress, which had helped the RJD survive in powers for many years, share the blame for Bihar's plight, he alleged.

Criticising the state's much-touted prohibition policy, Kishor said that the ban on liquor in Bihar is yet another example of the BJP's duplicity.

"Why does it (BJP) not ask Yogi Adityanath in adjoining Uttar Pradesh and chief ministers of other states ruled by it to declare the same? In other states, they are talking about growth and investments, and in Bihar, they think nothing more is needed than five kg of free ration and 'sharaab-bandi'," he added.