Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 1: The Jan Suraaj Party launched by the poll strategist-turned politician Prashant Kishor will not ally with any party or alliance before or after the Bihar Assembly elections, its founder-president Prashant Kishor said on Saturday.
Mr Kishor gave the promise in writing to the senior journalists of a media house at an inter-action in Patna. He also predicted that his party would on its own win a clear majority or would fare too badly in the coming elections. Asked to put a number to how many seats Jan Suraaj can win in its debut election, he said, “I can see two probabilities. People have seen Jan Suraaj as an alternative, but voting requires a leap of faith. People need a leap of faith because of the prolonged phase of hopelessness.” He added that Jan Suraaj would win either fewer than 10 or more than 150 seats.
To a question on whether he may tie up with other parties if Jan Suraaj emerges as a kingmaker after the polls, he replied, “We don’t do the politics of this side and that side. If the people don’t give us a mandate, we will continue our work. I can give it to you in writing, neither an alliance before the polls, nor after the polls.”
Kishor was then asked if he would consider an alliance if the results threw up a fractured mandate or a hung assembly. “If a situation comes where the government cannot be formed without us, I know people will switch. I won’t be able to stop them,” he said. Kishor blamed this on the “lure of Lakshmi (money) and fear of (central agency) CBI.”
“Hypothetically, if there are 30 MLAs of Jan Suraaj and these 30 are the key to government formation, will the MLAs listen to me? But I can say I will still be honest,” he said. Indirectly accusing the BJP of horse-trading, he said, “Get it written by Amit Shah too that if the NDA falls short of a majority, no MLAs will be bought or pressured. You are asking if we won’t sell, ask those who will buy.”
Earlier, Kishor was asked about his experience as a poll strategist and how contesting is different from making others contest. “Here too I am making others contest. The only difference is that I have created a new formation to execute this. Earlier, I worked with ready formations,” he said.
Meanwhile, the union home minister Amit Shah and the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra batted for the ruling NDA and the opposition “Mahagathbandhan” respectively on Saturday, the penultimate day for the closing of campaigning for the first phase of polling on November 4.
Mr Shah lashed out at the opposition Mahagathbandhan as he presented the people with a choice between the “Modi-Nitish combine” NDA government, which would lead the state towards development and the RJD-led alliance that would “bring jungle raj.” “The Assembly elections was an opportunity to decide the future of Bihar. On the one hand are those who had ushered in ‘jungle raj’. On the other hand is the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar, who have brought development,” he said.
The home minister was virtually addressing rallies in Gopalganj, Samastipur and Vaishali districts as he could not visit these places due to bad weather. While speaking in Samastipur, Shah slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of “trying to protect infiltrators” by leading the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.
“Let Rahul Gandhi take out as many yatras as he pleases. Each and every infiltrator will be driven out of the country. The SIR was aimed at that, and we welcome the Election Commission’s decision to carry out the exercise across the country,” the BJP leader said.
Less than a hundred kilometres away, Priyanka Gandhi trained guns at the ruling NDA, claiming that the double-engine government was being “run from Delhi.” Gandhi, who was in Begusarai, hit out at the state government, saying there was “no double-engine” government as neither the people nor Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were getting heard.
Ms Vadra on Saturday launched her assembly poll campaign in Bihar, and claimed that neither the people nor Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were getting respect as the double-engine government was being “run from Delhi.” Ms Vadra, who was scheduled to address two rallies during the day, had to cancel the one at Khagaria as her helicopter could not take off due to bad weather. She, however, travelled by road from Patna for the election meeting in Begusarai.
Before leaving for Begusarai, she briefly interacted with journalists in Patna criticising the NDA for “failing” to fulfil poll promises during the two-decade-long rule in Bihar, and voicing confidence that the INDIA bloc will form the next government.
Upon reaching the venue of the rally, she began her more-than-30-minute-long speech with the remark, “Since I could not take the chopper, I drove to this place and behold the sight of vast tracts of fertile land along the Ganges. So much poverty you people have suffered despite so much of natural wealth all around”.
“This government is being run from the Centre…So this double engine is actually a single engine. There is no double engine. You have seen it in other states that suddenly a Chief Minister comes, of whom no one has ever heard…You are not even able to say who will become the CM,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also alleged that PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah “spend their entire time in the state blaming Nehru and Indira Gandhi for the problems Bihar faces today.” “And they are trying to cheat you with the promise of one crore jobs. Why could they not work for job creation until now?” Priyanka asked. She also slammed the Bihar SIR claiming that “deleting voters’ names in Bihar” amounts to breach of rights.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India on Saturday ordered the transfer of Patna Superintendent of Police (Rural) following violence in Bihar’s Mokama after the murder of a Jan Suraaj Party supporter. Tension has gripped Mokama ahead of Assembly polls in the state, after Jan Suraaj Party supporter Dularchand Yadav was killed during an election campaign.
On Friday Yadav’s supporters had pelted stones at the car Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Mokama candidate Veena Devi. “The Commission has further directed that Vikram Sihag, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Patna may also be transferred. Hence, a panel of officers for posting a substitute in his place may be sent urgently,” the poll authority told the state chief electoral officer.