Who’s next in line of fire? Prashant Kishor’s explosive corruption allegations adds twist to NDA’s Bihar campaign

NEW DELHI: Prashant Kishor, election strategist-turned-politician and the founder of Jan Suraaj Party, has triggered a political storm in poll-bound Bihar with his explosive corruption allegations against several state leaders. Interestingly, Prashant Kishor, who has often been accused by opposition parties of helping the BJP, has unleashed his tirade against the members of ruling NDA in the state. His targets till now include Bihar’s deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary, ministers Ashok Choudhary, Mangal Pandey and BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal.The Jun Suraaj chief has levelled serious allegations against these leaders. The charges against BJP leader and deputy CM Samrat Choudhary include:

Minister Ashok Choudhary, whom Prashant Kishor has called “Bihar’s most corrupt leader”, has been accused of:

The leaders in question have denied the charges, but Prashant Kishor has claimed he has papers to prove his allegations against them. The BJP’s Bihar unit launched a counter-offensive against Prashant Kishor describing his Jan Suraaj party as “a political startup based on fraud”. The state BJP has accused PK of raising “hundreds of crores of rupees” through “shell companies”.BJP’s state media in-charge Danish Iqbal accused Kishor with indirectly helping the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and asked “Why is his party is still receiving funds from states ruled by INDIA bloc parties which had sought his professional help during elections.” “More than Rs 370 crore have come from West Bengal where he had worked for Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in 2021 assembly polls. Besides, Kishor is getting huge funds from states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,” he alleged.Responding to these charges, Prashant Kishor has dared the NDA leaders to unleash investigative agencies against him. “The Union home minister and the Prime Minister are from the BJP, let them send investigative agencies to probe charges against me,” the Jan Suraaj chief has said when questioned about funding allegations against him.The Jan Suraaj chief also shared details of his finances to counter funding charges against him and his party.Interestingly however, the top BJP leadership has maintained a silence on Prashant Kishor’s allegations. Political analyst N K Choudhary feels that the BJP does not want to give credence to PK’s allegations by opening a front against him. “For the BJP, the principal opponent in the state as of now remains Lalu and his party the RJD, so they are focussed in their attacks on them. Prashant Kishor has managed to gain a lot of traction, support and also media attention but he is still far away from emerging as the principal challenger to the BJP politically. Any counter action or reaction to Prashant Kishor now would give credence to his allegations and that is perhaps why the top BJP leadership is not reacting to his campaign,” N K Choudhary says.However, he has a word of caution for the BJP insofar Prashant Kishor’s attacks against Nitish Kumar are concerned. ” Nitish Kumar remains the best bet for BJP in Bihar. The electoral gains that NDA makes in Bihar is courtesy the strong image of Prime Minister Modi and the popularity of chief minister Nitish Kumar. If any campaign weakens the chief minister, the NDA as a whole may suffer electorally.”Now, this could be a tricky proposition for the BJP leadership, which may want its own chief minister in the state after playing second fiddle to Nitish Kumar for nearly two decades. In the 2020 elections, the saffron party for the first time became the senior partner in the state alliance winning 75 seats. But the BJP allowed Nitish Kumar, whose party was reduced to 45 seats in the assembly, to continue as the chief minister. However, that may change this time around if the BJP manages to repeat or better its performance. As the NDA partners gear up for the upcoming assembly elections, the top BJP leadership has been reluctant to announce that the next government will be formed under Nitish Kumar. For now, the BJP leaders say that they will contest the elections under Nitish Kumar, which is quite natural as the JDU chief is the chief minister of the coalition government.By levelling corruption allegations against Ashok Choudhary, who is viewed as the right-hand man of Nitish Kumar, Prashant Kishor may be actually piling pressure on the chief minister, who anyway is battling reports of his ill health. Nitish, whose clean image has always stood him in good stead electorally, stands to suffer if a leader of his party and who is perceived very close to him is accused of corruption.Little wonder, the JD(U) immedidately swung into action to defend Nitish Kumar. “Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has redefined politics with his honesty and integrity throughout his 20-year tenure. No one has been born who can prove even a single allegation of corruption against him. Those who have been accused of graft should respond. Nitish Kumar is equal to ‘Zero Tolerance’,” JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar posted on social media a day after after Kishor levelled allegations against Ashok Choudhary.The Jan Suraaj Party has dropped enough hints that it will take these allegations to their logical conclusion. It has submitted a memorandum to the Bihar governor seeking the removal of Samrat Choudhary. Party’s national president Uday Singh and Bihar unit chief Manoj Bharti said they have also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claims to be a firm believer in probity in public life. “We have no hopes from the Nitish Kumar government in the state. If no action is taken by the PM or the Governor, we will move the court as a last resort”, the Jan Suraaj Party leaders have warned.Clearly, Prashant Kishor has made the Bihar elections interesting by highlighting corruption cases against leaders of the ruling combine. There is a strong possibility that in the run up to elections, he could be targeting more leaders, perhaps from the Mahagathbandhan also. So, the suspense over who is next in his line of fire is unlikely to end anytime soon. (With inputs from agencies) Go to Source