"If Bihar Doesn't Vote For Such People...": Prashant Kishor On Candidates

A host of doctors, lawyers, former bureaucrats and police officers with a clean image on his first list of 51 poll candidates, election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has said if they do not get elected, the people of Bihar will be responsible. Speaking to NDTV in an exclusive interview, PK, as he is popularly known, pointed to key candidates and extolled their work, saying they were chosen on basis of what they had done for the people.

"Now, if you don't vote for such people, then it is not a burden on Prashant Kishor. This is a burden on the shoulders of the people of Bihar," said the chief of Jan Suraaj Party, which is contesting its maiden election. 

With an eye to the caste slant in Bihar politics, Kishor has carefully picked his candidates to form the right combination. In the first list, 16 per cent of the candidates are Muslims and 17 per cent are from extremely backward communities. 

Asked if the combination is a deliberate strategy to counter both Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Yadav and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United, Kishor said the candidates were chosen because of their work and clean image. Barring one, all his candidates were contesting for the first time, he said. 

"We have not given tickets in view of anyone's loss.  We have given tickets in view of the benefits of Bihar," he said. 

Among the candidates is well-known mathematician KC Sinha, who served as the Vice Chancellor of Patna University. The books he authored have been followed in Bihar's schools for decades.

YB Giri, the Jan Suraaj Party candidate from Manjhi is the former Additional Advocate General of Bihar and Additional Solicitor General of India for central government cases in Patna High Court.

"If a person like KC Sinha comes as a MLA, if he becomes a part of tomorrow's system, will it be a benefit or a loss?" he said. 

He also countered allegations of dynastic politics and tickets given out as deals with other parties. 

"Lata ji is the daughter of RCP Singh. She is a woman and a lawyer.  She has been working in Asthawa for a long time... There is no problem in her work.  She is not a fraud. She is not a money-grubber," he said. 

Citing another case, he said Jagriti Thakur is not only the granddaughter of former Chief Minister of Bihar Karpuri Thakur.

"She is also a doctor.  She is an educated woman. She has been working in Morwa for months," he said.