Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose Delhi visit this week has brought the focus back on the opposition, on Wednesday took a sharp aim at his former colleague Prashant Kishor. In his push for the unity of the opposition, Nitish Kumar has held a flurry of meetings this week, including with the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The 71-year-old JD(U) leader has broken ties with the BJP at a time when the rival parties have been trying to forge a united front ahead of 2024 national elections. “We want to be the main front, not the third front,” Kumar told reporters assertively, saying he would also meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi after she returns from abroad where she has gone for a medical check-up.
In the midst of all updates and visuals of meetings emerging on social media, Nitish Kumar also took a potshot at poll strategist Prashant Kishor. “Working with other political parties is his business. Whatever he has got to do in Bihar, does not concern us. Does he know the ‘ABC’ of what all has been done since 2005?”
“Whatever statements he has been making… may be he wants to stay with the BJP. May be, he wants to help them," the Bihar CM said, calling Kishor a “publicity expert”.
{{/usCountry}}“Whatever statements he has been making… may be he wants to stay with the BJP. May be, he wants to help them," the Bihar CM said, calling Kishor a “publicity expert”.
{{/usCountry}}Kishor was sacked from the JD(U) in 2020. A couple of months ago, he announced that he would focus primarily on Bihar. But the poll strategist - who has been credited for some of the biggest poll victories the country has seen in the recent years - has been vocal in his criticism of the Congress, and even the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar.
"We have been doing our work since 2005. Some people just have the habit of blabbering, and not doing anything at all," Kumar said on Wednesday, hitting back at his critics. He was visiting the national capital for the first time after he forged alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD last month, returned to the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), and took oath again.