JD(U) Vice-President Prashant Kishor with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (Express file photo)Downplaying JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor’s meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said the political strategist will issue an explanation in this regard during the party’s national executive meeting tomorrow.
“Prashant Kishor will himself speak about all this tomorrow during the party’s national executive meeting. He joined our party only last year,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“Kishor is associated with an election strategy organisation too. Whomsoever he works for under the banner of his organisation, it has nothing to do with our party. JD(U) has no relation with his work,” he added.
The JD(U) chief’s remarks came a day after Kishor – who helped out with the recent electoral success of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2015 – met the Trinamool Congress supremo at Nabanna (state secretariat) in Kolkata. Although TMC leaders were tight-lipped about the meeting, sources said the party has signed up Kishor to help it fight the BJP in West Bengal.
Kumar also said that no complaint was filed against Kishor till now. “We have not received any complaint against Prashant Kishor. If we get a complaint, we will take a decision accordingly,” the Bihar Chief Minister said.
The BJP won 18 seats in Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections, making major gains in the state for the first time. It was a major setback for the TMC, whose tally came down to 22 seats. The state is scheduled for Assembly polls in 2021.
According to party sources, Banerjee and Kishor deliberated on the causes of the TMC’s setback, and Kishor explained his readings for the state seat by seat. According to TMC sources, Kishor will be working for the party from Friday to identify areas where the party needs to improve and help draw up a strategy to combat the BJP before the Assembly polls.
