“Nitish Kumar has not closed his channels with the BJP,” Mr Kishor had earlier said.
Patna:
In his latest potshot at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, political strategist Prashant Kishor today challenged him to ask Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh, who is an MP from Mr Kumar’s party JD(U), to quit his post.
“#NitishKumar ji if you have nothing to do with BJP / NDA then ask your MP to quit the post of Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
You can’t have both ways all the time,” he tweeted.
#NitishKumar ji if you have nothing to do with BJP / NDA then ask your MP to quit the post of Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
You can’t have both ways all the time.
— Prashant Kishor (@PrasantKishor) October 22, 2022
Yesterday, he had pointed out that of 17 years that Nitish Kumar has been Chief Minister, he has held the post with support of BJP for 14 of them.
This is the latest in an ongoing feud between the two, where both are accusing each other of having links with the BJP. Mr Kishor had on Saturday released a video saying many people are happy that Nitish Kumar is forming a big nationwide coalition against the BJP, but it’s not to be trusted.
“As far as I know, Nitish Kumar is surely with Mahagathbandhan but hasn’t closed his channels with BJP. The biggest proof is that Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who is a JD-U MP, neither resigned from his post nor the party asked him to do so or action has been taken against him,” he said.
“It is difficult to understand why, if he (Nitish Kumar) has walked out of the (NDA) alliance, one of his MPs is still holding an important position in Rajya Sabha. So as far as I know, Nitish Kumar has not closed his channels with the BJP,” he added.
Nitish Kumar had for the second time ditched the BJP in August this year to join hands with the Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal to form a Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar.
Mr Kishor was once a party colleague of Nitish Kumar, but was expelled in 2020 for “acting against the party’s decisions”. He has shifted base to Bihar now, where he launched a ‘Jan Suraaj Abhiyan’ (good governance campaign). He has also set up an initiative called “Baat Bihar Ki” to ensure Bihar takes a place amongst the top 10 states of our country in the next 10 years.
His jumping into the political arena in the state has triggered sharp attacks from Nitish Kumar, who has accused him of working for the BJP.
Mr Kishor had hit out at Nitish Kumar over this accusation, saying the Chief Minister had become “delusional”.
“He has been affected by his age and has turned delusional. He has been politically isolated, as he is surrounded by people who he himself does not trust. And it is because of this nervousness he speaks other than what he means,” Mr Kishor had said.
