Prashant Kishor does a U-turn on JDU's 85 seats, retreats on retirement pledge; accuses Nitish of vote-buying tactics

Patna (The Uttam Hindu): Prashant Kishor, supremo of the Jan Suraj Party (JSP), has backtracked on his statement after he said he would retire from politics if Nitish Kumar's JDU won more than 25 seats in the Bihar Assembly elections. Appearing before the media for the first time since the election results showed JDU winning 85 seats and Jan Suraj winning 0, Kishor said he holds no position within Jan Suraj, which would warrant his resignation.

Prashant Kishore, known as election strategist, also clarified that he had not said that he would leave Bihar.

Prashant Kishor blamed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s victory on a scheme by Nitish Kumar. He alleged that Nitish Kumar "bought votes with money" by giving 10,000 rupees in cash to women associated with the Jeevika group before the elections under the "Chief Minister's Women's Employment Scheme."

PK, reversing his previous statement, has now issued a new challenge. He said, “If the government gives the women 2 lakh rupees each (as promised) after six months as per the scheme’s provisions, then he will leave both politics and Bihar.