"Bihar Will See A Triangular Fight On 160-170 Seats": Prashant Kishor To NDTV

Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Saturday said that his party will be a part of the triangular fight on 160-170 seats in the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar.

Speaking at the NDTV Power Play conclave, the 47-year-old former political strategist said he is confident that his party, which was founded in October last year, will get either less than 10 seats or more than 150 seats.

The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting will be held on November 14.

He said that Jan Suraaj is being seen as an "alternative" in the state.

When told that people were disappointed when he announced that he won't contest, Kishor said he never said that he would fight the elections.

"I said if I would contest, I would do it from Kargarh," he said, adding that he is not the "X factor".

"When the results are announced 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 (National Democratic Alliance) in Bihar. Perception is one thing; fact is another," he added.

Kishor also gave in writing to NDTV that Jan Suraaj won't ally with any other party before the Bihar election and won't do so after the polls either.

He said that numbers show that 1/3rd of people in Bihar want to vote for neither the ruling NDA nor the 'Mahagathbandhan'.

While the NDA comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), Union Minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha, the Opposition alliance, Mahagathbandhan, has Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties as the main constituents.