New Delhi: Political strategist and the JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor Tuesday escalated his war of words with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi following the controversy over seat-sharing between the allies in the state.
Kishor had sparked the row Sunday when he suggested that the JD(U) deserved the larger number of seats for the assembly elections scheduled for 2020.
Modi, a senior BJP leader in the state, responded with a veiled attack on the political strategist. He tweeted Monday that there were no problems with the alliance except for those “collecting electoral data”.
2020 का विधानसभा चुनाव प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी और मुख्यमंत्री नीतीश कुमार के नेतृत्व में लड़ा जाना तय है। सीटों के तालमेल का निर्णय दोनों दलों का शीर्ष नेतृत्व समय पर करेगा। कोई समस्या नहीं है।
लेकिन जो लोग किसी विचारधारा के तहत नहीं, बल्कि चुनावी डाटा जुटाने और नारे……. pic.twitter.com/aCIUmFkFgL
— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) December 30, 2019
Kishor responded to Modi Tuesday, tweeting a reference to the deputy CM’s loss in the 2015 assembly elections.
“The role of Nitish Kumar and JD(U) as a large political party has been decided by the people and not by a leader of another political party,” he tweeted in Hindi. “After facing defeat in the 2015 assembly polls and becoming deputy CM due to conditions prevailing, I was happy to hear the talk of Modi on political decorum.”
https://twitter.com/PrashantKishor/status/1211869013325692928?s=20
Speaking to ThePrint Tuesday, Kishor said he had already tweeted his views.
“What I have stated (for more seats) is not a demand. It’s a fact,” he said. “The JD(U) is the senior party in the assembly and the CM belongs to it. Do not confuse the Lok Sabha elections with the assembly polls.”
Modi, who is on an official visit to Chennai, stuck to his stance while attacking Kishor.
“In the 2020 assembly polls, the NDA will contest under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar. The seat-sharing formula will be decided by the top leaders of both parties,” he said.
“It is a time tested alliance in which both parties respect each other. But people who have entered politics not with conviction but to run a company that collects data and slogans are giving statements that are against alliance dharna,” he added.
“One person who is engaged in running a profitable business is preparing a bazaar for use of his services and talks about national interests later.”
Also read: Why the defeat for ally BJP in Jharkhand is making JD(U) leaders happy
JD(U) guarded, BJP wary
Ever since Kishor’s remarks Sunday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has only responded with a one-liner. “Everything is okay in the NDA,” he told the media at a function in Patna Tuesday.
Other JD(U) leaders have been publicly maintaining that the poll strategist was airing his personal views. “The views expressed are his own. We are a democratic party and everyone is free to speak their mind,” JD(U) minister Shyam Rajak told ThePrint.
There is, however, a feeling in the JD(U) that Kishor has the tacit backing of the chief minister. Party leaders pointed to the earlier controversy when Kishor publicly opposed the JD(U)’s support to Citizen Amendment Act in Parliament.
When party leaders demanded his expulsion, Kishor offered his resignation to Nitish but the chief minister turned it down. Kishor, instead, scored a victory within the party as the chief minister has now said he is opposed to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“Nitish Kumar may have deliberately stirred the political atmosphere through Kishor to see the BJP’s reaction,” said another JD(U) leader.
Kishor’s remarks come in the wake of the BJP’s loss in Jharkhand and scheduled elections in Delhi, where the BJP is expected to face a tough task in unseating the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). A loss in Delhi could put the BJP in a tough spot in Bihar.
That puts the spotlight on the alliance, which has been rocky.
Ever since the JD(U) and the BJP formed the alliance in 2006, Nitish has been the big brother. In the 2010 assembly polls, the JD(U) contested 141 seats while the BJP contested just 102.
The poll arithmetic changed after the two parties regrouped in 2017 following the BJP’s sweep in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2019 Parliamentary elections, the BJP dropped five sitting MPs to accommodate Nitish’s demand of contesting an equal number of seats. The two parties contested 17 seats each leaving six to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
There are fears in the JD(U) that if seats are shared, the BJP may finally outshine the party.
“The main worry for JD(U) is that the strike rate of BJP in Bihar has been better in recent polls,” a senior JD(U) leader said. “If the two parties contested on equal number of seats, it is quite possible that the BJP may end up having more seats than the JD (U).”
Also read: Jharkhand victory gives Lalu more comfort in hospital but RJD problems remain
- The copy has been updated with the Chief Minister’s response to the controversy.