Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday slammed election strategist Prashant Kishor after the latter criticised his 15-year rule in Bihar and declared a mission to bring in "new thinking and new effort" to revive the state. Kumar said Kishor's opinion was "not important" and also the people of the state know the work his government has done.
"You people know whether we have done good in Bihar or not. Someone's opinion is not important. What is important is the truth. People know our work. You all know what work has been done and how much work has been done," Nitish Kumar said. "Since you know, I request you to give the response yourself. When someone says anything, we should respond to the comments but in this case, you can do that yourself, since you know what the reality is," he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Prashant Kishor said the last 30 years under Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar had left Bihar the most backward and poor state in the country. The election strategist said if the state has to come in the category of advanced states, it cannot reach there walking on the same path as in the past 10-15 years.
Interestingly, Prashant Kishor had in 2018 joined Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and within a month, he was appointed as vice-president of the party. However, he was sacked in 2020 reportedly for his stand against the citizenship law.
Meanwhile, the election strategist on Thursday announced that he has had his fill as a backroom operator for leading political players of the country and that he now intended to create a platform of like-minded people named 'Jan Suraaj' aimed at transforming his home state Bihar.
While he brushed aside speculation that he would announce the setting up of a new party, Kishor held out the possibility of Jan Suraaj metamorphosing into a political party at a latter stage.
He said he was in touch with "about 18,000 people" who shared his vision for Bihar and whom he will "try to meet personally", before launching a 3,000-km 'padyatra' (march) from Gandhi Ashram at Champaran on the Mahatma's birthday, October 2.
