Patna: Election strategist Prashant Kishor on Sunday (June 14) took a jibe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who launched the poll campaign last week in the state where assembly elections are due for later this year, stating that ruling party Janata Dal (United) has been busy talking about Bihar assembly election at the time of coronavirus pandemic. He also attacked the Chief Minister for not coming out of his official residence in Patna for nearly three months following the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Despite the lowest testing rate, 7-9 per cent positive case rate and more than 6,000 cases, elections are the favourite topic in Bihar instead of coronavirus. Nitish Kumar, who hasn’t stepped out of his home due to Covid-19 fear, thinks there is no harm in stepping out and vote,” Kishor tweeted in Hindi.
"Scared of stepping out of his residence during the last three months because of corona, Nitish Kumar nonetheless thinks that common people's lives will not be endangered if they came out of their houses to take part in the electoral process," the poll strategist wrote in another tweet.
The remarks of Kishor came close on the heels of Kumar concluding a virtual conference of his party over six days, during which he interacted with the grassroots-level workers via video-conference.
Kishor was elevated to the post of national vice-president in the Janata Dal (United) headed by Kumar within weeks of joining the outfit two years ago but expelled from it on disciplinary grounds earlier this year.
He had played an instrumental role in the campaign for the Grand Alliance, comprising the JD(U), RJD and the Congress, in the 2015 Assembly polls, when the coalition achieved a stunning victory.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with which the JD(U) has realigned, is already engaged in a vigorous online public outreach programme aimed at the state polls, which was kicked off a week ago by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who addressed people in the state from Delhi in a "virtual rally".
Kumar's preference for functioning from within the premises of his residence, the only recent exception being his turning up at the CM secretariat, less than 50 metres away, last week, has come in for repeated criticism from Lalu Prasad's RJD, left sore and out of power following Kumar's abrupt return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Both Prasad and his heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav have been attacking Kumar, calling him names like coward for his reluctance to step out.
