"General Fled": Anurag Thakur's Dig At Prashant Kishor Not Fighting Polls

Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor's decision not to contest the upcoming election in Bihar has drawn a swipe from senior BJP leader Anurag Thakur. Thakur, who reached Patna today to campaign for the BJP, referred to Kishor as the "general" who fled before the battle. "The general has fled. What will happen to the Army?" he told NDTV.

A former Union Minister, Thakur was also asked why there is no Muslim among the BJP's 101 candidates for the Bihar election. "We give tickets based on winnability. We focus on Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. We do not provide facilities to people based on religion and caste. The one who can win gets the ticket," he said.

Putting an end to speculation about which seat he will contest from, Kishor yesterday said in an interview that he won't contest the polls.

"Jan Suraaj decided I should concentrate on organisational work and not contest," Kishor said. The poll strategist-turned-politician predicted a certain defeat for the ruling NDA in Bihar, and added that the Nitish Kumar-led JDU will struggle to win even 25 seats. "The NDA is definitely on its way out and Nitish Kumar will not return as Chief Minister," he said.

Setting a big target for Jan Suraaj, he said that "anything less than 150 seats" for the party would be a "defeat".

Earlier, the BJP said Kishor decided not to contest because the "businessman and a former election campaigner" in him has realised that the situation is not in his favour. "Prashant Kishor is a very smart businessman and he has also had a lot of experience in running election campaigns. Perhaps, the businessman and former election campaigner in him has realised that the real situation on the ground is not favourable for him or his party and that if he loses this election, then his business enterprise will have no takers in the future." BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla said.

Polling for the 243-member Bihar Assembly will be held on November 6 and 11. Results will be declared on November 14.