Patna: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday leveled serious charges on the ruling JDU and RJD alleging that both are running their political parties from the money of corruption extorted through officers and contractors. Kishor was replying to a question related to funding his padayatra which he had started on Gandhi Jayanti earlier this month.
“There are political parties in Bihar like JDU and RJD. None of them have formed the government alone. JDU has not won the entire Bihar. And similarly, RJD has not won Bihar for the past 25 years. They are running their political parties from the money of contractors and officers through corruption. I am getting the fund from those six chief ministers whom I helped during the election," Kishor said. He further said that if in case he forms a political party, crowdfunding would be his party's only financial source.
"For example, Bihar has a population of 13 crores. So even if two crore people give Rs 100 each, we can easily get funds worth Rs 200 crore. I will launch the campaign for crowdfunding when the formation of the party would be in process,” he said at Patilar in West Champaran district. Kishor is on his 3500km ‘padayatra’ as part of his Jan Suraaj movement that will cover the entire state of Bihar in a span of about one and a half years. He did not hesitate to reveal the funding of this Jan Suraj campaign and spoke at length.
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“There are four parameters where money is spent on social and political work. First is the use of helicopters and flights for the rally, second the place of the rally booked and the stage built for the same, third is an advertisement for the rally and fourth is the money spent on calling people by booking buses and other vehicles. If you monitor closely, I am not doing any of these four things. So in comparison to others, my expenditure is less. The only expenditure is on sustaining this padayatra smoothly," he said, further adding that he is getting that fund from people he has helped politically in the last 10 years. "I helped people in 11 elections out of which we won 10. In six states, the people I helped are currently the Chief Ministers. I did not ask for any help from them back then, but now I am,” Kishor stressed.
Earlier, JDU national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh had raised the question on the expenditure of his campaign and alleged that Kishor was getting support from BJP for his Jan Suraj program. Reacting to PK's allegation, JDU spokesperson Abhishek Jha said, “If he has any proof, he should come out in the public domain. Actually, he is known for baseless claims and deviating from the issue. No one is taking notice of his padayatra and that's the reason he has lost his mental balance and is speaking baseless things out of frustration.”
RJD spokesperson Mirtunjay Tiwari too slammed PK for his statement. “Let him say anything, nothing will happen. He is shouting too much these days. It was Nitish ji, who had introduced him to politics and was speaking against him. We all know on whose behalf he is roaming in Bihar. He is working for the BJP, and that's the reason he is not speaking a word against the BJP leaders. We are hardly bothered by what he says. No one takes notice of him,” Tiwari said.
