Bankipur Bypoll Results: ‘Won’t ally with any party, Gen Z protest may have role in BJP’s defeat,’ says Prashant Kishor

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Monday rejected possibilities of joining any political alliance, and claimed that his victory in the Bankipur assembly bypoll was made possible "with backing of" disgruntled supporters of BJP, Congress and RJD, while Gen Z protests may also have played a role.

Kishor, who wrested the BJP stronghold on his electoral debut, also claimed that the vote was "essentially against" Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary.

The Jan Suraaj Party leader was talking to reporters after defeating the BJP's Neeraj Kumar by over 19,000 votes in Bankipur which the BJP had been winning since 1995.

"We shall have no alliance. Our alliance shall be with the people of Bihar. You should see that the people of Bankipur have voted for us, giving up on established parties," said Kishor when he was asked about the possibility of a rethink on his earlier stance of going it alone in elections.

He said he would not make tall promises like converting Bankipur into Bengaluru, but as an MLA, he would try to improve things, and changes will be there for all to see in a few months.

With his victory, the Jan Suraaj Party, which has been accused of being a "B team of BJP", will have its maiden presence in the Bihar assembly.

"I would like to thank my active supporters as well as those who backed me in the by-election, despite not being with Jan Suraaj. I received support from people in BJP, Congress and RJD, who were unhappy with the state of affairs in their party," Kishor said.

The former poll strategist whose fledgling outfit had drawn a blank in last year's assembly election also said that the "atmosphere created by Gen Z protests" might have played a role in Tuesday's poll result.

"But there is nothing to show that young electors had voted in large numbers in Bankipur. It is unfortunate, but that is the reality," said Kishor, referring to the less than 35 per cent turnout of July 30, the polling day.

The IPAC founder, who gave up political consultancy in 2021, said the mandate is essentially against Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, "against whom I have nothing personal, but who is detested by educated people of Bihar because of criminal antecedents and lack of qualifications".

The bypoll, which Kishor has been terming as a "referendum" on the BJP-led government in Bihar, had followed the resignation of fifth-term MLA Nitin Nabin, who got elected to the Rajya Sabha after becoming the party's national president.

Wake-up call for PM Modi

The electoral verdict in Bankipur is a wake-up call for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he claimed, adding that if Choudhary was chosen because he belongs to the numerically significant Kushwaha community, let him be replaced with someone with the same caste but with a "cleaner background".

On his part, Choudhary, who had joined the BJP less than a decade ago and became its first leader to head a government in Bihar, came out with a magnanimous post on his X handle, congratulating Kishor on his victory in "the grand festival of democracy".

A senior BJP leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "Prashant Kishor struck all the right notes. He tapped into the growing dissatisfaction among the upper castes by raising issues like the death after suspected rape of a NEET aspirant and the police encounter of Bharat Tiwari".

Comments of party leaders like Ravi Shankar Prasad also made the matter worse, he said, alluding to a remark by Patna Sahib MP that Bankipur was a seat which "we can win even if a dog or a cat was fielded as the BJP candidate".

The BJP leader also said the debacle could not have come at a worse time.

He said, "The Gen Z protests highlighted our weakening support among the youth, especially the upper castes, who have been our core base. They had been unhappy over the controversial UGC regulations and, now, they have begun to feel that we are taking them for granted".

Although the INDIA bloc partners stopped short of congratulating Kishor, they were unanimous in hailing his victory as "the defeat of the BJP".

"It is an emphatic victory against the BJP. In the backdrop of Jantar Mantar protests, it does indicate a welcome shift in public mood," said Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of CPI(ML) Liberation, to which AISA, an active participant in the Cockroach Janata Party-led movement, is affiliated.

Congress spokesperson Suman Kumar Mallick said the people of Bankipur have given a clear message against the arrogance of power and an autocracy.

"If Parliamentary elections are held today, Modi government will definitely be voted out," Mallick said.

RJD spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan, whose party's candidate Rekha Gupta finished third in the by-poll, said more important than who won is the fact that the BJP lost.

"We are not dejected and will work with renewed vigour to ensure the overthrow of the NDA from Bihar as well as the Centre," he said.

Veteran socialist leader Shivanand Tiwary told PTI: "Prashant Kishor's energy and organisational abilities have been there for all to see. The INDIA bloc must approach him. The victory in Bankipur must be viewed in a larger perspective".

Tiwary, who was one of the foremost participants in the "Bihar movement" launched by the late Jayaparakash Narayan, said, "What we saw recently, at Jantar Mantar, across Bihar and in other parts of the country, was far more spectacular than what took place in 1974. Students' activists of today are showing a far superior acumen than what was on display in our times".

(With agency inputs)