Prashant Kishor vs BJP in Bankipur? Jan Suraaj to contest Bihar bypoll from ‘VVIP seat’ vacated by Nitin Nabin

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor announced on Saturday the Jan Suraaj Party would contest the bypoll to the Bankipur seat vacated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Nabin. He exuded confidence that only Jan Suraaj can defeat the BJP in the Bankipur constituency.

"The Jan Suraaj Party has decided, in principle, to contest the bypoll to the Bankipur seat. It will be held by the time the NDA would have completed seven to eight months in power. So, the bypoll would be a referendum on the first year of the government," said Prashant Kishor, the former political strategist.

Kishor said, "Only the Jan Suraaj Party can defeat the BJP in Bankipur. The RJD and the Congress have been losing the seat by massive margins. Our party believes we just need to field a strong candidate".

Meanwhile, the Bihar president of Jan Suraj, Manoj Bharti, called Bankipur a "VVIP" seat. He said, "Bankipur constituency is no longer an ordinary constituency. It has become a VVIP seat after Nitin Nabin became the BJP's national president."

"So, the BJP will fight tooth and nail to win this seat...this is a matter of prestige for them," Manoj Bharti said on Sunday.

"We hope that the party's executive body and Prashant Kishor agree to this…the candidate should be someone who does not need an introduction,” he said.

Prashant Kishor, however, evaded a direct reply on whether he could be the Jan Suraaj Party candidate.

To a pointed query on whether he could be "the strong candidate", the Jan Suraaj Party founder cryptically said, “It is a decision for the party to take.”

"I did not contest the assembly polls because the party felt I should concentrate on organisational work. I shall continue to abide by the party's collective decision," Kishor was quoted by PTI as saying.

Nabin, who became the BJP president in January this year, had defeated his nearest RJD rival in Bankipur by a margin of over 50,000 votes. The Jan Suraaj Party candidate had finished third.

He gave up the seat last month upon getting elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Significantly, Kishor had, ahead of last year's assembly polls, indicated that he was willing to challenge RJD national working president Tejashwi Yadav on his home turf of Raghopur.

There have been murmurs that his decision to back down had demoralised the cadres of Jan Suraaj Party, resulting in its dismal show at the polls.

However, the 47-year-old insisted that "not all people who play a role in building a political party contest polls. Jan Suraaj Party has been nurtured with blood, sweat and tears of millions of dedicated workers, out of whom less than 250 got tickets, since there are only 243 assembly seats".

Kishor also dismissed rumours of a rift with Uday Singh, the Jan Suraaj Party's national president, whose house he recently vacated to shift to an ashram on the outskirts of Patna and who has since announced a "one-year break from active politics".

The Jan Suraaj Party founder said, “Uday Singh is like a brother to me, besides being a senior party colleague. He continues to be our national president. We respect his wish to take a break for a year.”

"I had taken the decision to build an ashram for myself long ago after I spent days introspecting at Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in Champaran, after our party's dismal show in assembly elections."

Kishor also slammed the Samrat Choudhary government in Bihar for the recent lathi charge on young job aspirants who were protesting the delay in notification of teachers' recruitment examinations.

"The NDA had promised to create one crore jobs after coming to power. It has been six months, and by now it should have created a million jobs if it were serious about achieving the target.

"Instead, it is baton-charging those seeking employment. The government in Bihar seems to be intent on setting a record for lathicharge," he remarked.

(With inputs from PTI)