'Ask Lalu for equal seats or...': Ahead of Bihar polls, Prashant Kishor challenges Rahul Gandhi

Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Thursday launched a direct attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, questioning his political credibility in the state and challenging him to contest independently. In a podcast with ANI, Kishor said the Congress has no standalone presence in Bihar and survives only through its alliance with Lalu Yadav.

"If you have political guts, fight on your own or ask Lalu Yadav for equal seats," Kishor said, calling Congress a party that has been “riding Lalu Yadav’s coattails for the last 25–30 years.”

He accused Gandhi of showing no real connection with the state. "Rahul Gandhi comes and goes. He does not do yatra in Bihar. Has Rahul Gandhi spent even one night in a village in Bihar? He sits in Delhi, mocks Biharis, then comes here to lecture us," he said.

Kishor also criticised Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy — whom he described as "a very dear chief minister of Rahul Gandhi" — for comments made about migrant workers from Bihar. "He (Reddy) said labouring is in the DNA of Biharis...because all the officers around his rival KCR were from Bihar. He suggested that Telangana's condition was bad because Biharis were coming to the state. They say Biharis were born to do labour and then come to Bihar to lecture them?"

Turning to the Congress' past promises, Kishor recalled, "Rajiv Gandhi had announced from the Gandhi Maidan in 1989 that he would give Rs 50,000 crore for the development of Bihar. Where did that money go? After that, Congress was in power at the Centre for 15 years. What did they do for Bihar then?"

He further alleged that Congress operates under the influence of the RJD in Bihar. "Lalu Yadav runs the Congress in Bihar. When the issue of Sonia Gandhi being a foreign national was raised, Lalu Yadav came to the aid of the Gandhi family. Congress has been paying off that favour, without caring whether they ruin the future of Biharis in the process."

Asked how many votes he expects Congress to get in the upcoming election, Kishor replied, "‘Jitna Lalu ji bheek mein denge’. Congress has no stand in Bihar." 

Kishor also targeted the BJP which has been in power in the state with JDU. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised in 2014 to restart sugar mill in Motihari, but it never happened.

"I had written PM Modi's speech in 2014 in which he said, 'I will return to Motihari to ask for votes only after I drink tea made from the sugar of a sugar mill here'. Every piece of land belonging to the Motihari sugar mill has been sold off, with most of it purchased by BJP leaders. But PM Modi is not to blame for this. The credit for this goes to the Biharis, to the people of Motihari, who even after this, voted for the BJP in the next three elections, and made the party win from Motihari."

Bihar will go to polls later this year.

In the last assembly polls, the NDA secured a total of 125 seats — BJP won 74 and JD(U) 43 — while the opposition Mahagathbandhan (MGB) won 110 seats: RJD claimed 75, Congress 19, and CPI(ML) Liberation increased its tally to 12.

This time, Kishor's Jan Suraaj has also announced that it will contest all 243 seats.