No new party but 3,000-km march on Kishor's Bihar plan

He will begin his padyatra from Gandhi Ashram in West Champaran from October 2

After rejecting Congress's offer to join the party, political strategist Prashant Kishor Thursday announced a 3,000-kilometre "padyatra" in Bihar from October 2 to meet people in the state amid speculation of him launching a new party.

The political strategist, however, did not confirm any plans to enter politics or create a new party. "From October 2, I will launch a 3,000 km-long padayatra. I have no party or a platform right now. I just have an idea and the enthusiasm to do something good for Bihar," Kishor said.

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Kishor said that in the next three to four months, he'll meet many eminent persons of Bihar who can help build idea of ‘Jan Suraaj’ (good governance) and make them part of it.

The strategist said that some 17,500-18,000 people have been identified who could join this attempt. He said his previous venture could not take off since soon after its launch the Covid-19 pandemic had struck and brought all public activities to a standstill.

'Jan Suraaj' is similar in concept to the 'Baat Bihar Ki' he had launched soon after his expulsion from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) two years ago.

He will begin his padyatra from Gandhi Ashram in West Champaran.

Speaking about the Congress's offer, Kishor said, "Congress needs to decide how they want to function further, not me. They took whatever decision they deemed important and so did I. The Congress doesn't need any Prashant Kishor, the party has even more capable people. They know what they have to do."

Earlier this week, election strategist Kishor had set off a buzz by making a cryptic announcement, saying that he will “begin (his political journey) from Bihar” by going to the “real masters, the people”.

Kishor has worked with both Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his archrival Lalu Prasad. He credited the two leaders with achievements in terms of social and economic empowerment in the last three decades. “Still, it is undeniable that Bihar continues to be at the bottom in terms of all development indices. The state needs a new political alternative”, said Kishor. He asserted that he will henceforth will be “fully devoted, with all my powers” to his cause and clarified that his previous venture “Baat Bihar Ki”, which appeared similar to 'Jan Suraaj’, was shelved because of the global Covid-19 pandemic that struck soon afterward.

“Skeptics may ask how could I then collaborate with Mamata Banerjee last year. But in West Bengal, I had to work with established machinery. In Bihar the idea is to come up with an entirely new set up”, he underscored. Kishor ducked queries as to whether he fancied himself as the Chief Ministerial candidate after he formed a party but debunked the suggestion that being a Brahmin placed him at a disadvantage in caste-ridden Bihar where politics has been dominated by OBCs since the Mandal agitation.

“It is a myth that in Bihar your vote garnering abilities depend upon the population of the caste you belong to. The biggest vote catcher in Bihar today is, undoubtedly, Narendra Modi. How many people are there in the state who belong to his caste”, asked Kishor, who first shot into prominence after he was credited with handling Modi’s spectacularly successful campaign in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

In the hard-nosed political circles of Bihar, though, Kishor’s averment was taken with a pinch of salt. BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand dismissed Kishor as a “political broker” who could be a “stepney” or a “safety valve” for more entrenched forces. RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said “nobody takes notice of Prashant Kishor in Bihar. The state has chosen Tejashwi Yadav as its future leader”.

The JD(U), to which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs, has so far remained tight-lipped. Kishor was inducted into the JD(U) in 2018 by Kumar who was then also the party’s national president. A bitter spat with Kumar over divergent views on the CAA-NPR-NRC controversy led to Kishor’s expulsion from the party along with another socialite office-bearer Pavan Varma. However, Kishor, who maintains that Kumar has always been a “father figure”, met the latter in Delhi recently. Referring to the meeting, Kishor said it was purely “a courtesy call” and expressed bemusement over speculations that he was trying to lobby for Kumar for the Presidential elections due later this year.

(With PTI inputs)