Prashant Kishor's fresh salvo: 'When Nitish Kumar touched PM Modi's feet ...'

Prashant Kishor has criticised Nitish Kumar for touching PM Modi's feet during NDA meeting

Former political strategist and Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor on Friday said that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's act of touching Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet "brought shame" thas o the state.

Kishor, who has been extensively running the Jan Suraaj campaign in Bihar in the run up to the assembly polls next year, explained why he has been criticising Nitish - a man with whom he once shared closed ties.

"People ask me why I am now criticising Nitish Kumar, having worked with him in the past. He was a different man back then. His conscience had not been put up for sale," Kishor was quoted as saying by PTI.

He said that a leader of any state is the pride of its people as he criticised Nitish's gesture of touching PM Modi's feet during the NDA meeting in New Delhi last week.

"The leader of a state is the pride of its people. But Nitish Kumar brought shame to Bihar when he touched the feet of Modi," he alleged.

Kishor further said that Nitish is not using his position in the NDA government to ensure benefits for Bihar.

"There is so much talk about Nitish Kumar playing a key role in Modi's return to power. But how is the Bihar CM leveraging his position? He is not using his clout to ensure benefits for the state. He is touching feet to ensure that he remains in power, with BJP support, even after 2025 assembly polls," Kishor said.

Kumar's JD (U) won 12 seats in Lok Sabha polls to emerge as the second largest ally of BJP, which failed to get a majority on its own.

Notably, Kishor had managed Nitish's election campaign in 2015 and formally joined the party two years later as the vice-president.

He later parted ways with Nitish and has actively criticised the Bihar chief minister over various issues pertaining to the state.