'Nitish Will Contest Polls With BJP, But...': Prashant Kishor's Prediction For Bihar Election

Prashant Kishor, while speaking in West Champaran district, said that Nitish Kumar had grown too unpopular to enjoy a fifth consecutive term in office "no matter which alliance he becomes a part of".

File photo of Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor.

Source : PTI

Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will contest the assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, but may switch sides after the polls, with hopes for another term as the chief minister.

The Jan Suraaj Party founder, who was addressing a press conference in West Champaran district, also asserted that the 74-year-old JD(U) chief 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.

Speaking on the speculations that Nitish may quit the NDA ahead of the assembly polls amid the BJP's apparent reluctance to declare him as the CM candidate, Kishor 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." 

He also said 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 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 elections.

"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," he added.

Kishor said that Nitish Kumar is "physically tired and mentally retired".

"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," Kishor said.

Speaking on Jan Suraaj's prospect, Prashant Kishor said his 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".