Kishor thinking of contesting on 20 LS seats in Bihar

NEW DELHI: Ace strategist Prashant Kishor, who had earlier decided to contest 2024 general elections in Bihar without launching his party, is now contemplating to contest on 20 of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats. Sources say that the areas where he is wishing to contest are the districts where he will complete his padhyatra (Jan Suraaj) by November. A person close to Kishor said, “These areas are mostly BJP dominated. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won the most number of seats from these twenty.”
Sources privy to the developments say that he has been working hard to better his political standing in the state and not to leverage his formation so that he can negotiate with other parties and partner with them. A leader close to Kishor said, “He will contest the elections independently without allying with anyone. He has made it clear that he will also not talk to any party. He has clarity that he will back independent candidates no matter who the opposition candidate is. He will contest against all the parties in the state.”
As Kishor has been discussing to choose candidates on these 20 seats, a leader said, “He will set up the candidates and plan the strategy and also take out time to work on the constituencies by formulating winning recipe. He will, moreover, continue his yatra until October or November and all these constituencies will be covered till then which will give his formation edge in these areas.”
On the condition of anonymity, an IPAC member said, “Last time, there were only two parties which had won most of the Lok Sabha seats and they are BJP and JDU with 17 and 16 seats respectively. So, it is natural that most of the seats backed by Kishor will be against the BJP and JDU.”
The leader added, “According to current plan, he is saying that he will restart from 11 June, but the muscle tear seems like it will take longer to heal. Then, there will be monsoon and at that time, it will be difficult to walk. So I think it will take him some time to recover and when he starts, it has to start for longer. Not that he will start and halt it again. He has to walk around 15 to 20 kilometres every day. Once his injury is over and his left leg is completely fine, he will walk again.”
He further added, “There was already some problem in his left leg since he had walked so much, but Kishor would not stop, but now it has become unbearable for him so he has called off his yatra.”
Earlier, Kishor had said while talking to reporters at Morwa in Samastipur district, “I have been experiencing difficulty in walking due to a muscle tear in my left leg. This, according to the doctors, happened due to walking 20 to 25km daily for a long time on bad roads. They have suggested rest for my feet for 15 to 20 days.” Kishor further asserted that his “padayatra” or foot march will take another one to one-and-a-half years to complete.
Kishor embarked on his yatra from Mahatma Gandhi’s Bhitiharwa Ashram in the West Champaran district on 2 October 2022, as part of his “Jan Suraaj” campaign.
He walked over 2,500 km through West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, and Vaishali districts and entered Samastipur district on 11 May.