Election strategist Prashant Kishor has attacked the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, saying while the entire country is discussing the coronavirus crisis, the only topic of discussion in Bihar is the assembly election.
The state elections are due in Bihar later this year.
“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,” he tweeted in Hindi on Sunday.
देश में सबसे कम टेस्टिंग, 7-9% पॉज़िटिव केस दर और 6 हज़ार से ज़्यादा केस के बावजूद बिहार में करोना के बजाय चुनावों की चर्चा है।
तीन महीनों से #Corona के डर से अपने आवास से ना निकलने वाले @Nitishkumar समझते हैं कि लोगों के घरों से निकलकर चुनाव में भाग लेने में कोई ख़तरा नहीं है।
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) June 14, 2020
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been using the virtual outreach programme of his party the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) for the build-up to the forthcoming election, when he would seek his seventh term since 2005.
Though comfortably placed in the company of BJP due to Bihar’s poll arithmetic, Kumar has been out early to extol the virtues of his governance and social reforms initiatives, including prohibition and campaign against child marriage, to counter any hint of anti-incumbency factor and revive the memories of pre-2005 RJD regime of “pati-patni’ by presenting a statistical comparison on key parametres.
In a series of virtual meetings, the Bihar chief minister booth-level workers and leaders to work on 90:10 formula, spending 90% time on acquainting people with the strides the state has taken since 2005 and just 10% on responding to Opposition’s meaningless clamour.
“Last two assembly poll victories were due to people’s stamp of approval on Bihar government’s development work and the third one will also be no different,” he said, while interacting with workers of Samastipur, Begusaraai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura and Jamui.
Kumar has also asked the workers of his Janata Dal (United) to ramp up social media presence with a special focus on first-time voters.
Creating WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages, which could serve as an interface between the party and the masses, figured among the commandments received by JD(U) foot soldiers from Kumar during the six-day “virtual sammelan (conference)” that ended on Friday.
Kishor has been constantly targeting Kumar over various issues, particularly those related to the Covid-19 situation in the state. Last week, he asked the chief minister to announce in public if the state government has received Rs 1.25 lakh crore aid from the Centre.
He was expelled from the JD(U) by Nitish Kumar in January this year.
