Youth accuses Prashant Kishor of copying his idea, forgery case filed

Kishor, who was recently sacked from Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), launched the ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ campaign last week to connect with youths in the state.

A case has been registered against political strategist Prashant Kishor in Bihar. He has been accused of forgery by Shashwat Gautam, a resident of Motihari in Bihar, according to HT’s sister publication Live Hindustan.

Prashant Kishor shows a document of his campaign at a press conference in Patna, on February 18.(Parwaz Khan /HT Photo)

Gautam has alleged in his complaint that ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ recently started by Kishor was actually conceptualised by him, but a former colleague named Osama gave the idea and content to Kishor who used it for his own campaign by a similar name, Live Hindustan reported.

Gautam has filed a case against Osama too. Osama has contested students union election in Patna University in the past, and Gautam has been previously asociated with Congress.

Gautam has claimed that his website (’Bihar ki Baat’) was registered in January, while Kishor started his portal in February. He has given proof to the police to support his claim. The case has been registered under Section 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) and the police have started investigation.

An engineer, Gautam has spent many years in the United States. He studied MBA in George Washington University in Washington, DC and had even won the students union election there in 2012.

Kishor, who was recently sacked from Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), launched the ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ campaign last week to connect with youths in the state. The campaign will start the registration of like-minded youths who want to join hands with Kishor to develop Bihar in the next 10-15 years.

Kishor’s ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ programme is aimed at making Bihar one of the 10 best states in the country.

The noted strategist is also said to be in talks with different political parties ahead of the Bihar assembly polls.

Kishor, during a press conference recently, had said he is not going to launch a political outfit, but will work to bring about a change in Bihar.

“My best wishes to you to retain the chair of Chief Minister of Bihar. God bless you,” Kishor had tweeted soon after he was sacked by Nitish Kumar.

A senior leader of the grand alliance who did not wish to be named said Kishor is busy building an army of youth to take on CM Nitish Kumar.