Prashant Kishor took a scathing swipe at the BJP on Tuesday as three Jan Suraaj candidates withdrew their nominations for the upcoming Bihar elections. The analyst-turned-politician accused the ruling party of ‘poaching’ candidates and claimed that another leader was “abducted” before he could file his nomination papers. The Jan Suraaj has seen a wave of desertions over the past two days — with several prominent members including state spokesperson Amit Kumar Paswan, former district councillor Anita Kumari, and party founding member Karmveer Paswan joining the BJP.
“We have seen a pattern in this country where, after elections, opposition MLAs are often poached, something the BJP has done multiple times across various states. Now, the same is happening in Bihar. There is no true alliance or democracy in play in Bihar right now. Jan Suraaj’s candidates are being systematically obstructed. Several of our candidates were stopped from even filing their nominations. So far, three of our candidates have been forced to withdraw their nominations under pressure,” Kishor said.
He also alleged that party leader Mutur Shah had been unable to file his nomination papers from Danapur after being ‘abducted’.
“In Danapur, our candidate Mutur Shah was preparing to contest. However, he was allegedly kidnapped and could not reach the nomination centre. BJP has claimed that RJD’s Ritlal Yadav threatened him, but the reality is different. Our candidate was last seen with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Where is the Election Commission now? Why is no action being taken?,” he asked.