Will contest polls from my place of birth or against Tejashwi: Prashant Kishor

Patna, Sep 3 (PTI) Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Wednesday said he would like to contest the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar, either from Kargahar, which is his place of birth, or Raghopur, which is the seat of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.

He made the statement in Karakat, about 120 km from the state capital, responding to queries from journalists about an interview he gave to a news channel, in which he expressed his willingness to fight the upcoming elections.

Kishor said, "Let me make it clear, I have not made an announcement. Deliberations are on in the party, and if a collective decision is taken that I too enter the fray, then, as I also said in that interview, it has to be Kargahar or Raghopur".

In the interview, Kishor had said that Kargahar, which falls under Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency, in Rohtas district, was his "janmbhoomi" while Raghopur "is my 'karmabhoomi' just like the rest of Bihar".

The former political strategist has been, for quite some time, piquing political observers by stating his desire to contest from Raghopur, which falls in Vaishali district and is part of Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency, currently represented by Union minister Chirag Paswan.

Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc's de facto chief ministerial candidate, is currently enjoying his second consecutive term from the seat, which has, in the past, been represented by his father Lalu Prasad, the RJD president.

Kishor also took a dig at Yadav over a video that has gone viral on social media in which the latter can be seen celebrating the success of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', which saw INDIA bloc bigwigs travelling to 25 districts of the state, over a fortnight, covering a distance of more than 1,300 kilometres.

"That video is proof that Tejashwi Yadav, who flunked in his studies, could not succeed in cricket which he tried a hand at, and is unable to even perform a gig", said Kishor, who, worked for the RJD, JD(U) and Congress combine in 2015 assembly polls.

The IPAC founder, whose first claim to fame was handling of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls for Narendra Modi, made light of the state-wide bandh called by the BJP-led NDA on Thursday in protest against use of abusive language for Prime Minister's late mother during the opposition Yatra.

"It may be a bandh called by politicians. It will receive no public support. A couple of months ago, the opposition coalition had similarly called a bandh, but Jan Suraaj Party's public meeting on that day attracted huge crowds. Tomorrow, we have two public meetings scheduled. I bet neither will see a turnout of less than 20,000", asserted the 47-year-old.

He chuckled when told that state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, whom he has been targeting over alleged irregularities in a medical college of which the latter is the managing director, had broken down when Modi voiced anguish over the language used for his mother.

"Dilip Jaiswal should have told, amid sobs what he has to say about my charges. He should wait for a few days. I am going to come up with fresh evidence against him and all other political leaders in Bihar whose misdeeds I have been exposing", said Kishor.

The Jan Suraaj Party has, in the recent past, levelled serious allegations against Jaiswal, state Health minister Mangal Pandey and West Champaran MP Sanjay Jaiswal (all BJP), besides Rural Works department minister Ashok Choudhary (JDU). PTI NAC RG