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Prashant Kishor's singular target after defeating BJP in stronghold Bankipur: ‘Remove Samrat as CM’
After his maiden electoral victory, Prashant Kishor said the people wanted the BJP to appoint “a better person” as chief minister.
Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) supremo Prashant Kishor on Tuesday said his Bankipur bypoll victory was a message from Bihar's voters to the BJP and NDA leadership to replace Samrat Choudhary as chief minister.
After his maiden electoral win, Kishor said the people wanted the BJP to appoint “a better person” as CM and shift the political discourse “from crime and caste to education, employment and migration”.
The result was a major setback for the BJP, which held the urban constituency since 1995. The seat fell vacant after BJP national president Nitin Nabin, who held the seat for multiple terms like his father before him, was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Kishor questioned how the BJP lost a seat that Nabin had won by over 51,000 votes in the assembly elections last November. He said nothing had changed in Bankipur except the BJP's leadership in Bihar, which, according to him, people had rejected.
“What has changed is that the BJP has given a new leadership in Bihar that is unacceptable to the people of Bihar,” he told news agency ANI, and claimed voters were uncomfortable with Samrat Choudhary's “conduct, character and face.”
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“The victory in Bankipur is seen as an attempt by the people of Bihar to send a message to the leadership of the BJP and the NDA - appoint a better person as the chief minister of Bihar,” he said.
The newly elected MLA also said that Bihar needed discussions centred on jobs and education instead of “crime, half-encounters, and shooting people based on their caste gamchha.”
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'Only leadership needs to change'
Samrat Choudhury was appointed by the BJP-led NDA after Nitish Kumar quit as Bihar CM upon his elevation to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year. That made him the BJP's first CM in Bihar as it has usually been a junior partner to Nitish's JD(U).
Kishor alleged that installing a leader with a “criminal background” as chief minister would prevent Bihar from progressing.
“The BJP has the majority, and the NDA has the majority. The chief minister will be from their alliance. We are only making one request: appoint a capable and virtuous person as the chief minister of Bihar,” he said.
Kishor also accused the BJP of bringing back the same style of politics it once campaigned against. “The very ‘Jungle Raj’ you sought votes against... the people will not accept it,” he said and alleged that voters rejected the BJP because it placed “an individual representing that same Jungle Raj” at the helm.
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BJP suffers major setback in Bankipur
Kishor on Monday defeated BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by 19,324 votes in the bypoll. He got 64,151 votes, while Neeraj polled 44,827 votes. RJD candidate Rekha Gupta finished a distant third with 14,273 votes.
Describing the outcome as “a wake-up call” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kishor said Bihar needed leadership that could improve education, create jobs and reduce migration. “Our objective is not to become MLAs for contracts but to ensure Bihar's development,” he said.
“In Bankipur, we did not receive the expected mandate,” Nabin said Monday. “We will conduct a thorough introspection of the election results in both these areas with complete seriousness,” he said.
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The bypoll was the first electoral test since Samrat Choudhary took over as chief minister from Nitish Kumar. Choudhary congratulated Kishor on his victory, saying in a post on X that he respected the people's mandate.
Tejashwi blames CM for BJP defeat
Bihar's Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav termed the result a “crushing defeat” for the BJP and blamed it on the chief minister's governance. “CM Samrat Choudhary has totally failed to govern Bihar. Law and order has completely collapsed. The BJP's crushing defeat in Bankipur assembly bypoll was the result of the negative politics of the CM,” Yadav said.
He added that the RJD accepted the verdict and claimed the electorate voted against both the BJP-led NDA and the chief minister.
