Nitish Kumar brought shame to Bihar when he touched feet of PM Modi, says Prashant Kishor

Prashant Kishor

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with having "touched the feet" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure his own continuance in power, said Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor, reported news agency PTI.

Prashant Kishor, who has been running the 'Jan Suraaj' campaign, was addressing a public meeting in Bhagalpur on Friday.

"People ask me why I am now criticising Nitish Kumar, having worked with him in the past. He was a different man back then. His conscience had not been put up for sale," said Kishor, who had managed the JD (U) president's election campaign in 2015 and formally joined the party two years later, reported PTI.

"The leader of a state is the pride of its people. But Nitish Kumar brought shame to Bihar when he touched the feet of Modi," he alleged, referring to the NDA meeting in Delhi last week, reported PTI.

Kumar's JD (U) won 12 seats in Lok Sabha polls to emerge as the second largest ally of the BJP, which failed to get a majority on its own.

"There is so much talk about Nitish Kumar playing a key role in Modi's return to power. But how is the Bihar CM leveraging his position? He is not using his clout to ensure benefits for the state. He is touching feet to ensure that he remains in power, with BJP support, even after 2025 assembly polls," Kishor said, reported PTI.

Notably, Kishor had first shot into fame in 2014 for handling the spectacularly successful Lok Sabha poll campaign of Modi. By the time he gave up political consultancy in 2021, Kishor had worked for several high-profile politicians, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Friday announced its candidate for the Rupauli assembly constituency, where the resignation of multiple-term MLA Bima Bharti has necessitated a bypoll.

State JD(U) president Umesh Singh Kushwaha gave the party ticket to Kaladhar Prasad Mandal, who had contested the 2020 assembly polls, against Bharti, as an independent.

Bharti, who had won the seat for JD(U) for the third time in a row, quit the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to contest from Purnea as the RJD candidate.

However, the seat was won by independent candidate Pappu Yadav, while Bharti lost deposit and finished a distant third, way behind the JD(U) runners-up Santosh Kushwaha, who was defeated after two consecutive victories.

According to Kushwaha, the candidature of Mandal "has been approved by the chief minister", who is also the JD(U)'s national president.

The choice seems to have been driven by a high concentration, in Rupauli, of Gangotas, an extremely backward class to which Bharti also belonged.

Bharti has indicated that she was unwilling to contest the by-poll, but if the RJD decided to field its candidate, she would lobby for the ticket for any of her family members.

The RJD has an alliance with the CPI, which had contested the seat in 2020. The Left party has announced that it will contest the by-poll.

The last date for filing of nomination is June 21 and voting will take place on July 10.

(With inputs from PTI)