Patna, Oct 17 A day after the ruling BJP accused Prashant Kishor of “threatening to shoot” Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, the Jan Suraaj Party founder on Saturday challenged the state government to lodge a case in this connection.
Kishor, whom the ruling party has accused of issuing the threat in a viral video clip, dug his heels in when journalists in Nalanda district sought his response on the controversy.
“My words must not be twisted out of context. I have always maintained that Samrat Choudhary is uneducated, a Class VII dropout, and has a criminal past, having been named in a case of murder of seven persons”, alleged the Bankipur MLA.
He added, “I had opposed extrajudicial killings, saying that if somebody could be declared an offender and shot dead, just because the police station concerned received a complaint against him from the local MP or MLA, then the same yardstick should be applied to Samrat Choudhary as well.”
The ruling BJP on Friday charged Kishor with “threatening to shoot” the chief minister, and demanded an apology from the former poll strategist.
The saffron party took exception to Kishor’s purported utterances, a video of which has gone viral on social media, in which the Bankipur MLA can be heard criticising the alleged “encounter raj” in the state since Choudhary became the CM earlier this year.
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
“If I have said anything wrong, then let the government headed by Samrat Choudhary lodge a case against me,” the Suraaj Party founder said.
Kishor also ridiculed state BJP media cell in-charge Danish Eqbal’s claim that the Jan Suraaj Party was bribing voters ahead of legislative council polls to win eight seats and that “bundles of Rs 500 notes” appeared alongside its publicity material in a video that went viral on social media.
“I cannot expect a BJP functionary to speak well of us. Nonetheless, it is absurd for a party, which rules the country and the state and has all big capitalists at its beck and call, to accuse our party of distributing money. Let the authenticity of the video be verified by whoever is interested,” said the former political strategist.
Kishor also refused to comment on the controversial remarks of JD(U) MLA Anant Kumar Singh, who has claimed that nine of his family members had been murdered, while the state was ruled by the RJD, because of his proximity to Nitish Kumar.
The Jan Suraaj Party founder said, “The JD(U) is a partner in the ruling coalition. The RJD is the main opposition party. Let them sort it out among themselves. We have nothing to say in the matter.”
Incidentally, Singh is supporting Jan Suraaj Party candidate Anuj Singh in the Patna Graduates constituency, which JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar seeks to retain for the fourth consecutive term.
(PTI News)
