Patna: A fortnight before the first phase of Assembly elections, the political temperature in Bihar is approaching boiling point.
On Tuesday, Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor accused the BJP of “intimidating” his party’s candidates and forcing them to withdraw their nominations from key constituencies.
The poll strategist-turned-politician said that all three candidates withdrew under “pressure” from the saffron party. He is of the view that the BJP is using pressure tactics because it fears losing ground in the upcoming Assembly polls, PTI reported.
He claimed that in Danapur, the BJP detained Jan Suraaj candidate Mutur Shah, preventing him from filing his nomination.
According to Kishor, the candidate was allegedly kept the entire day with Union Home minister Amit Shah and Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the election in-charge for Bihar.
“Earlier, there was a common notion that whoever wins the election, the BJP will form the government. The horsetrading practice is not hidden from anyone… how lawmakers are whisked away to resorts and hotels. But now, the top BJP leadership is involved in holding the people’s choice candidates of JSP, with no past baggage and a clean image, hostage,” Kishor said.
“If the Home minister forces someone to be with him, what can that person do? Where’s the Election Commission? Two central ministers are surrounding Jan Suraaj candidate… we will go to the Election Commission to file an official complaint,” he informed.
Kishor said the ruling NDA does not fear Mahagathbandhan, primarily an alliance of RJD and Congress, because they know the Opposition’s candidates include ‘bahubalis and sand mafia’.
“They will tell the people that they should vote for them to prevent the return of ‘jungle raj’. But they fear good people, doctors, traders, educationists and social workers,” he said.
“Democracy is being murdered. There has been no such precedent in the country,” Kishor alleged, urging the Election Commission to ensure the security of candidates.
“The BJP is trying to replicate the Surat model, in which their candidate got elected unopposed, as all other nominees were coerced to pull out. The BJP does not realise that voters had punished it across the country for it, and it won just 240 seats, though it had bragged that the tally would be 400-plus in last year’s Lok Sabha polls,” Kishor said.
There was no immediate response from the BJP about Kishor’s claims on the candidates who withdrew — Mutur Shah from Danapur, Satya Prakash Tiwari from Brahampur and Shashi Shekhar Sinha from Gopalganj.
JSP had announced candidates for all 243 seats in Bihar.
Bihar will vote on November 6 and 11, while the result will be declared on November 14.
