Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who predicted weeks earlier that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would switch to BJP, has come out with another premonition.
While talking to reporters on January 28, hours before the swearing-in ceremony, Kishor prophesied that the JD(U)-BJP alliance would collapse before the 2025 assembly polls.
“Nitish Kumar’s volte-face is no surprise. I had been saying that he would not remain with the Mahagathbandhan ever since he had joined the combine,” Kishor told reporters in Begusarai district. He is touring as part of his ‘Jan Suraaj’ campaign, reports PTI news agency.
“I make another prediction and you can catch me if I am proven wrong. The alliance that has been formed will not last till the assembly polls. In fact, it may come apart within a few months of the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
He said that the BJP might have run some permutations and combinations in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections that made them join hands with Kumar.
"Today’s development proves that if Nitish is ‘palturam’ (weathercock), Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are no different. The BJP seems to have made a calculation in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. But it will pay a huge price in the assembly polls due next year,” Kishore said.
Kishor, who has professionally worked with PM Modi and the JD(U) supremo, said that the BJP would find it difficult to convince voters why it sided with Kumar despite having said that its doors were closed for him.
Nitish Kumar, on the other hand, told reporters after taking oath that he will remain the BJP.
"I was with them (NDA) earlier too. We went on different paths, but now we are together and will remain so. Today, eight people have taken oath as ministers, the rest will take oath soon. Samrat
Choudhary and Vijay Sinha have been appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers," he said.
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