A day after poll strategist Prashant Kishor took on the 15-years’ regime each of Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) on Bihar’s development issue, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stated on Friday that a person’s ‘‘opinion” did not matter and what mattered was the truth. Mr. Kumar also requested media persons to give their response as they knew the truth.
Earlier on May 5, Mr. Kishor, while addressing media persons in Patna, had said that despite claims of the RJD and JD(U) regimes about giving voice to sections of the society and to development in the state, “Bihar still is at the bottom of development index and remains the poorest state of the country”.
To this, the Chief Minister quickly called upon media persons to testify: “You people (media persons) know whether development has taken place in the state or not. Someone’s opinion is not important, what is important is the truth. Since you people know the truth and what is the reality, I request you to give the response yourself.”
Separate journeys
Mr. Kishor on May 5 had also said that though he had a good personal equation with Chief Minister Kumar, it did not mean that he “cannot have a separate political journey” in Bihar.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders in Bihar slammed the poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s announcement to begin his political journey from Bihar. “These days political brokers and traders have come into politics but they will do only trade and nothing else. “It is for the first time a political trader is saying to do social service, but he will do only political business and nothing else,” State BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal told presspersons when asked about Mr. Kishor’s proposed 3,000-km padyatra (march) from West Champaran on October 2.
