‘INDIA bloc has done little to reach out to public,’ says Prashant Kishor at Express Adda

Prashant Kishor at Express Adda: Highlighting the lack of seriousness among constituents of the bloc to challenge the BJP, he said that the bloc member parties could have done much more since the meeting in Bihar's Patna in June 2023. "The leaders used to leave their meetings to catch flights, which clearly shows how important they treated the gatherings to be," he added.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: February 2, 2024 08:42 PM IST

3 min read

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express, and Vandita Mishra, National Opinion Editor, at Express Adda on Friday. (Express Photo: Renuka Puri)

Election strategist Prashant Kishor said the opposition parties, after forming the INDIA alliance, only conducted closed-door meetings instead of reaching out to the Indian voters. Speaking at the Express Adda event on Friday in New Delhi, he said, “If Rahul Gandhi could travel to Europe, why couldn’t the alliance reach out to the voters? The Opposition bloc is clearly not serious enough.”

Highlighting the ‘lack of seriousness among constituents of the bloc’ to challenge the BJP, he said that the bloc member parties could have done much more since the meeting in Bihar’s Patna in June 2023. “The leaders used to leave their meetings to catch flights, which clearly shows how important they treated the gatherings to be,” he added. The bloc members have met only three times ever since over 25 members came together to forge an alliance to save “democratic values” of the world’s largest democracy.

As per Kishor, BJP’s latest move to embrace Bihar CM Nitish Kumar back into the ruling alliance is to kill the idea of a united opposition bloc that aimed at challenge the political hegemony of the saffron party. Nitish Kumar was one of the key Opposition leaders of the INDIA alliance.

“They (BJP) did so because they wanted to end the idea of the INDIA Opposition bloc, of which Nitish was a major proponent. They have lost the battle to win the war,” he said.

However, Kishor, who left JDU some years ago after reports of a tussle with senior party members, believes that Nitish no longer enjoys a hold over the state’s voters like his heydays. The reason he cites is the multiple political somersaults by the Mandalite socialist leader.

“Nitish Kumar is referred to as ‘Paltu Ram’ by voters in Bihar and as such, he no longer holds the sway he used to over people in the state. If someone switches sides so many times, people will definitely understand and move away from them,” Prashant Kishor said. Since October 2023, Kishore is involved in political activism through his organisation ‘Jan Suraaj’ to create political awareness among voters in Bihar.

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