Prashant Kishor’s jibe at Nitish: ‘Physically tired, mentally retired’

Jan Suraaj Party Chief Prashant Kishor addresses during a ‘Holi Milan Samaroh’, in Patna, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Claiming that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was “physically tired and mentally retired”, political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Thursday (February 27, 2025) asserted that the JD(U) must not win even one seat in the assembly polls due later this year.

Mr. Kishor, who hopes his own outfit Jan Suraaj Party will make a splash in the elections, also said he has planned a rally in April “which would break all records in terms of turn out”.

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Talking to reporters in Patna, he said, “Nitish Kumar has managed to hold on to the seat of power while switching alliances. This enables him to be the CM even if the JD(U) has a small number of seats”.

Nitish Kumar snapped ties with BJP in 2013, only to return four years later, after having shared power with RJD between 2015 and 2017. In 2022, he again crossed over to the RJD-helmed Mahagathbandhan, but was back in NDA last year.

“To break this cycle, and to ensure that the arrow [JDU’s poll symbol] does not float with the lotus [BJP] nor burn bright with the lantern [RJD], I appeal to the people that they vote in a manner that the JD(U) does not win even one seat. Only then would we be rid of the chief minister who is physically tired and mentally retired,” said Mr. Kishor.

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The former JD(U) national vice president also lambasted the BJP for “enjoying power while using Nitish Kumar as a mask,” and alleged that “loot of public money and assuaging some estranged castes” were the intentions behind the cabinet expansion on Wednesday “with hardly six months left for polls”.

Claiming that the people were fed up with the NDA as well as the opposition helmed by the RJD, which was “responsible for jungle raj”, Kishor said he plans to hold “Badlo Bihar rally” on April 11.

“We have written to the district administration in Patna, asking for permission to hold the rally on April 11. I wager that the turnout will break all records. Though we also foresee the possibility of the jittery in the ruling dispensation trying to pave hurdles by denying permission,” said the 47-year-old, who was recently arrested while on a fast to press the demand for cancellation of BPSC exams.

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Mr. Kishor was also asked about the buzz generated by the Chief Minister’s son Nishant, who has of late been maintaining that his father was “100 per cent” fit and deserved another term in office, triggering speculations that the JD(U) supremo’s reclusive offspring could take the political plunge himself.

The Jan Suraaj Party founder replied: “I do not want to say much about Nishant since he is not in public life. But I challenge his father to spell out the names of ministers in the state cabinet without looking at a piece of paper. If Nitish Kumar thus demonstrates his mental soundness, I would give up politics and start working for him.”