Kishor knows he will not win, so decides not to contest Bihar polls: Giriraj

Patna, Oct 15 (PTI) Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Wednesday criticised Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor for his decision not to contest the Bihar assembly polls, claiming that the poll strategist-turned-politician "knew that he would not win the elections".

Kishor’s statement that a tally of less than 150 seats for the Jan Suraaj Party would be considered a defeat is 'Mungerilal ke haseen sapne', Singh told PTI Video.

'Mungerilal ke haseen sapne' was a television series about a man who was a daydreamer.

“Kishor realised that he would not win elections, and that is why he announced that he would not contest polls. Whatever he had invested in forming the Jan Suraaj Party had been recovered. His party is nothing but a ‘vote katwa’ (a party that cuts the votes of others). Jan Suraaj is the 'B' team of the RJD," Singh alleged.

Earlier in the day, Kishor announced that he would not contest the polls, a decision, he claimed, was taken by the party in the larger interest.

In an exclusive interview with PTI, the Jan Suraaj founder had also said that a "tally of less than 150 seats" for his party would be considered a defeat.

Singh claimed that the NDA would win 225 of the 243 assembly seats in the upcoming polls.

“The NDA government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has worked a lot for the overall development of Bihar. People have seen the works of the NDA government. This time, the ruling alliance will break all its previous records in Bihar and will win at least 225 seats," he said.

The BJP-JD(U) combine had won 210 seats in the 2010 state assembly polls.

He slammed the INDIA bloc for allegedly making false promises ahead of the polls.

“The RJD recently announced that one person from every household in Bihar without a government job will be given a government job if the 'Mahagathbandhan' is voted to power. But from where will RJD create posts in government departments? The promise is misleading. People don’t want the return of jungle-raj in the state," Singh said.

The RJD is trying to "pull Bihar back to the days of lantern (the RJD's symbol)", the BJP leader said, while referring to the rule of the party led by Lalu Prasad.

"They talk about the Charwaha model! This will not happen. Modi ji and Nitish ji want to make Bihar a developed state," said the Union minister.

In the early 1990s, Bihar's then chief minister Lalu Prasad had introduced Charwaha Vidyalayas, schools designed for underprivileged children aged 5 to 15, who used to graze animals.

However, the scheme failed miserably. PTI PKD BDC