The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has said it is ready to induct Prashant Kishor, who was expelled from the Janata Dal (United) by party boss Nitish Kumar.
“Prashant Kishor can come to us. He is welcome in RJD. Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) has always tortured and abused people since the beginning. They have in fact used Prashant Kishor,” RJD leader and party chief Lalu Prasad’s son Tej Pratap Yadav said on Thursday.
Kishor was expelled from JD(U) after weeks of tension between him and Nitish Kumar over the citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA. Kumar also showed the door to Pavan Varma. The sackings seemed imminent after Kumar’s recent declaration that the two were “free to leave”.
The two leaders, derisively referred to as intellectuals by Nitish Kumar recently, had been outspoken in their criticism of the NDA government’s amendment to the citizenship act. The new law lets the Centre fast-track citizenship of religious minorities from three Muslim-majority neighbours – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh – and has led to massive protests in parts of the country.
“Thank you @NitishKumar. My best wishes to you to retain the chair of Chief Minister of Bihar. God bless you,” tweeted Kishor who had joined JD(U) in September 2018.
Prashant Kishor, who was the party’s vice president, was seen to signal his discomfort in the party after he recently amended his Twitter bio to drop a reference to the party and his designation. He made his name as an election strategist in the 2014 parliamentary polls, and was seen as a confidant of Nitish Kumar, who often shielded him from attacks by his own party leaders.
He had teamed up with Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2015 state elections when the JD(U) formed a grand alliance with RJD and the Congress. The alliance defeated the BJP and Nitish Kumar returned as the chief minister.
Nitish Kumar’s somersault of 2017 when he exited the grand alliance and teamed up with the BJP had upset Prashant Kishor. But he stayed put and formally joined the JD(U) the next year. Kishor’s debut in active politics, however, did not go according to plan and soon enough, he found himself with little to do.
