Prashant Kishor slams Tejashwi Yadav’s development talks, announces new political party

Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor has hit out at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, mocking his understanding of development models. Kishor alleged that Yadav, whose party ruled Bihar for 15 years, has no idea about GDP and growth figures. “Comments can be made only when Tejashwi talks about caste, extortion, liquor mafia and criminality, not development,” Kishor alleged.

Kishor went on to criticise Yadav further, suggesting a disingenuous view of Bihar’s progress. He noted that Bihar looked like Switzerland to Yadav when he was in the government, but now looks like a gutter in the opposition to him. “If Nitish Kumar joins Mahagathbandhan, Bihar will look great again for him,” Kishor added.

Kishor criticized the caste census proposed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and stressed that conducting a caste census alone will not eradicate poverty. He wondered why the Congress, which has been in power for 60 years, had not initiated such a census. Kishor urged Gandhi to first conduct caste census in Congress-ruled states such as Karnataka and Telangana.

Expressing confidence in his plans for the 2025 Bihar assembly elections, Prashant Kishor announced that Jan Suraaj plans to contest all 243 seats with at least 40 women candidates. He outlined a vision for economic independence for women and promised to eradicate the need for Biharis to seek low-paying jobs outside the state.

Kishor announced the launch of a new political party on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, ahead of the Bihar state assembly elections. He revealed that the party would start with over a lakh functionaries and stressed that leaders would be elected from their respective state assembly constituencies, rather than being led by him.

(With input from agencies.)