NEW DELHI: Poll strategist-turned-politician and Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor said he is confident his party will get either less than 10 votes or more than 150 votes in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Jan Suraaj party did not ally with any other party before the Bihar election and won’t do so after the polls either, its leader Prashant Kishor gave in writing.
Jan Suraaj party will either win fewer than 10 seats or more than 150 seats in the upcoming election, its leader and poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor said at NDTV’s Bihar Power Play Conclave on Saturday in Patna.
Asked to put a number to how many seats Jan Suraaj can win in its debut election, he said leaders are expected to come and say that they are winning. “I can see two probabilities. People have seen Jan Suraaj as an alternative, but voting requires a leap of faith. People need a leap of faith because of the prolonged phase of hopelessness,” Kishor said, adding that Jan Suraaj will win either fewer than 10 or more than 150 seats.
Asked why he is not contesting the election, he said. “I never declared that I would contest the election from even one seat. I said if I were to contest, I would do it from Kargahar. I’m not the X factor.”
“When the results are counted on November 14, will the success be measured by Jan Suraaj winning seats or whether I contested or not? The perception is that there is no alternative to the Mahagathbandhan or the NDA in Bihar. Perception is one thing, fact is another. Numbers show 1/3rd of people in Bihar neither want to vote for the alliance nor the NDA. I believe that Jan Suraaj will be a part of a triangular fight in at least 160-170 seats,” he added.
To a question on whether he may tie up with other parties if Jan Suraaj emerges as a kingmaker after the polls, he replied, “We don’t do the politics of this side and that side. If the people don’t give us a mandate, we will continue our work. I can give it to you in writing, neither an alliance before the polls, nor after the polls.” At this point, NDTV’s Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal asked Kishor if he would indeed “give it in writing”, a term the poll strategist often uses while making predictions in interviews.
Kishor was then asked if he would consider an alliance if the results threw up a fractured mandate or a hung assembly. “If a situation comes where the government cannot be formed without us, I know people will switch. I won’t be able to stop them,” he said. Kishor blamed this on the “lure of Lakshmi (money) and fear of (central agency) CBI”.
“Hypothetically, if there are 30 MLAs of Jan Suraaj and these 30 are the key to government formation, will the MLAs listen to me? But I can say I will still be honest,” he said. Indirectly accusing the BJP of horse-trading, he said, “Get it written by Amit Shah too that if the NDA falls short of a majority, no MLAs will be bought or pressured. You are asking if we won’t sell, ask those who will buy.”
Earlier, Kishor was asked about his experience as a poll strategist and how contesting is different from making others contest. “Here too I am making others contest. The only difference is that I have created a new formation to execute this. Earlier, I worked with ready formations,” he said.
