Nitish would win only 25 seats without Rs 10,000 transfers: Prashant Kishor

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Tuesday accused Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) of “buying votes” in the run-up to the recent Assembly elections, claiming the party would have been restricted to just 25 seats had the government not transferred Rs 10,000 each to over 60,000 beneficiaries in every constituency.

He also alleged that the NDA promised nearly Rs 40,000 crore of public funds to 1.5 crore women and pushed out a large share of it just before polling.

Addressing a press conference, Kishor said he fully accepted responsibility for his party’s failure to win a single seat in its electoral debut. “None of our candidates is going to the Assembly. People’s mandate for us is to go among the people and struggle,” he said. “You are not defeated until you quit.”

He stressed that while his party may have made mistakes, it had not “committed the crime” of divisive politics or of “buying the votes of innocent people”. Kishor also claimed that “vote chori (theft)” was a nationwide challenge and urged the national Opposition to deliberate and, if necessary, approach the Supreme Court.

Asked whether he misread Bihar, Kishor replied, “Yes, I failed to understand Bihar, unlike Nitish Kumar and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary who divided people on caste and religious lines and bought votes using money.”

Reiterating his pre-poll challenge that he would quit politics if JD(U) crossed 25 seats, he said he would “definitely quit” if the NDA government now fulfils its promise of giving Rs 2 lakh each to 1.5 crore women under self-employment schemes.

“Between Nitish Kumar and his victory, there is only one thing — buying of 60,000 votes per constituency at Rs 10,000,” he claimed.

Kishor urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar to honour the commitment in full. “People who don’t get the money in six months’ time can come to Jan Suraaj. We will fight to ensure they get it,” he said, also urging the NDA to keep “corrupt and criminal elements” out of the new government.

Before the polls, he had repeatedly flagged charges of corruption against NDA leaders including Samrat Choudhary, Ashok Chaudhary and Mangal Pandey. As a gesture of “repentance” for failing to convince voters, Kishor announced he would observe a day's fast on 20 November at Bhitiharwa in West Champaran — the day the new NDA government is likely to take oath.

The NDA swept Bihar with 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly. The BJP won 89 seats, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM five and RLM four. Jan Suraaj failed to open its account.

The Bihar government had distributed the first instalment of Rs 10,000 under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, with a promise of releasing an additional Rs 2 lakh in subsequent instalments.