E-Paper
Prashant Kishor says Nitish Kumar getting delusional, 'scared of being isolated'
Prashant Kishor-Nitish Kumar charge and countercharge began with Prashant Kishor first claiming that Nitish Kumar recently asked him to take the reins of the JD(U). The Bihar chief minister dismissed the claim and said it was PK who had once asked him to merge JD(U) with the Congress.
Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Sunday dismissed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's allegation that Prashant Kishor once wanted JD(U) to merge with the Congress and said the signs of ageing are clearly showing on Nitish Kumar. He wants to say something but then ends up saying something else, Prashant Kishor said. "This is called being delusional in English," Prashant Kishor said. "First, he said I am working on the agenda of the BJP. Then he claimed that I urged him to merge his party with the Congress. How are both possible? If I am working for BJP, then why would I speak of strengthening the Congress? And if that is true, then the first statement is wrong," Prashant Kishor said.
"Nitish Kumar is worried...somewhere he is getting politically isolated. He is surrounded by people whom he can't trust. On one hand, there is age and on the other, there is this isolation," Prashant Kishor said.
Prashant Kishor who is on his 3,500-km-long Jan Suraaj padyatra recently said that he was invited by Nitish Kumar who requested him to "lead" the JD(U). This happened in a recent meeting, as PK claimed, after Nitish Kumar broke the NDA alliance and became the chief minister of the Mahagathbandhan government. At the meeting, Nitish Kumar even called PK his 'political heir', Prashant Kishor claimed. "I categorically told the CM that I will not work with him even if he (Nitish Kumar) makes me his political heir or….vacates the chair of CM for me. I said no....I have made a promise to the people…it can’t be changed," Prashant Kishor said.
On being questioned on Prashant Kishor's claim, Nitish Kumar said he did not invite Prashant Kishor -- PK came to meet him on his own. "He speaks so much but hides the fact that once he had asked me to merge my party with the Congress," Nitish Kumar said.
"Let him speak whatever he wants. Whatever he says, does not make any sense. Four-five years ago, he had told me to merge with the Congress. Now, he is working for the BJP," the chief minister said.
Prashant Kishor joined the JD(U) in 2018 and was promoted to the post of the national vice president of the party. Two years later, Kishor was shown the door after he criticised Nitish Kumar's support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
