Election strategist and Jan Suraaj Party co-ordinator Prashant Kishor appeared on India TV's Aap Ki Adalat show on Saturday and expressed his views on a spectrum of political issues, including the political environment in Bihar. Replying to questions from India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma in his iconic TV show 'Aap Ki Adalat', Prashant Kishor said that people who have witnessed Lalu Prasad Yadav's Jungleraj will never vote for RJD. He opined that Lalu Phenomen, colloquially this fear of Jungleraj has been the reason behind JDU winning 12 seats, Kishor said.
He said, "The Lalu phenomenon has been the biggest factor in Bihar for the last 25-30 years. A large section of voters in Bihar, who have seen the jungle raj for 15 years during RJD rule, will never vote for Lalu. Nitish Kumar won 12 Lok Sabha seats only because of this Lalu factor."
Prashant Kishor of vision of Jan Suraaj
As he has been making strides to launch his Jan Suraaj Party next month, Prashant Kishor is actively going between the masses. On his party's plans and vision, he said, he would be collecting Rs 100 each from nearly 2 crore people in Bihar to fund his party's expenses for the assembly elections next year. "My party's thrust will be on education and development", he said.
'BJP to be political axis for next 30 years': Kishor
Prophecying about the future of BJP, Kishor said that BJP would continue to be the political axis on the national scene for the next 25 to 30 years, irrespective of whether it wins or loses elections. "The Congress was the political axis from 1950 till 1990, and there has been a clear shift of this axis from Congress to BJP", he said.
Prashant Kishor on BJP's loss in UP
Rajat Sharma also asked the poll strategist whether BJP's electoral losses in UP were due to reported differences between Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath. On this, Prashant Kishor said, "I do not see it as personal rivalry. But if you see it from a wider perspective, I can cite the example of 2009 LS elections. At that time, Modi was chief minister of Gujarat and L K Advani was the party's national leader. In 2009, BJP did not do well in Gujarat, but I am not saying Modi's supporters sabotaged Advani's campaign. The message that went through was that if Advani won, then our leader Modi will take more time to become PM. Maybe this was what happened in Uttar Pradesh this time."
ALSO READ | Aap Ki Adalat: 'No personal rivalry...,' Prashant Kishor on reported differences between Yogi and Shah
Furthermore, Prashant Kishor added, "Some people felt that if Modi and Amit Shah won a huge majority, Yogi may lose his chair. What Kejriwal said about Yogi at that time clicked. Even in Bihar, during my padayatra, people asked me whether Yogi would be removed if BJP won 400 seats. It is not that Yogi may have told his supporters to defeat BJP candidates. This is not my topic and I normally do not speak on such matters. But the message surely went out among Yogi's supporters."
ALSO READ | Aap Ki Adalat: Prashant Kishor praises Rahul Gandhi, says, 'he should get credit for reviving Congress'
