Jan Suraj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Wednesday announced that he will not contest the Bihar Assembly elections. He claimed that this decision has been taken in the larger interest of the party.
In an exclusive interview with ‘PTI-Bhasha’, the former political strategist also said that Jan Suraj Party’s victory on “less than 150 seats” would be considered a defeat.
Kishore said, “If Jan Suraj Party wins Bihar elections, it will have a nationwide impact. National politics will take a different direction.
Elections in Bihar will be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11 and counting of votes will take place on November 14.
Kishore said, “The party has decided that I should not contest the assembly elections. Therefore the party has announced another candidate from Raghopur against Tejashwi Yadav. This is a decision taken in the larger interest of the party. If I had contested elections, it would have diverted my attention from important organizational work.
Asked about his party’s prospects in the elections, the 48-year-old leader said, “I can definitely say that we will either win handsomely or lose badly.” I have been continuously saying that I expect to get either less than 10 seats or more than 150. There is no possibility between these two.
When asked whether his party would like to support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the ‘Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance’ (India Alliance) of the opposition parties if the elections result in a hung assembly, he termed the fractured mandate as impossible.
However, he said, “Less than 150 seats, even if it is 120 or 130, will be a defeat for me.” If we perform well, we will get the mandate to transform Bihar and make it among the 10 most advanced states of the country. If we do not perform well, it will mean that people have not shown enough trust in us and we will have to continue our society and street politics.