His 20 years in power will be remembered for wasted opportunities: Prashant Kishor attacks Nitish
Patna, Aug 4: Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Sunday charged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his former mentor, with failure to secure tangible benefits for the state despite the BJP's dependence on him to retain power at the Centre.
Kishor alleged the JD(U) boss was fretting over his party's share in the Union council of ministers and using his clout with the BJP to settle scores with detractors at the state level, instead of leveraging his position to rehabilitate the state industrially.
"People are talking about special status for Bihar. I ask why Nitish Kumar could not press for the restoration of 20 sugar mills that have been moribund for years? He has been in power for nearly 20 years which shall be remembered for wasted opportunities," the IPAC founder told reporters here.
He was speaking after a function of the 'Jan Suraaj' campaign he had launched nearly two years ago, which is all set to become a political party on October 2.
A former JD(U) national vice president who was expelled from the party because of "indiscipline", Kishor claimed Kumar was in an enviable position after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, which saw the BJP running short of majority and becoming dependent on allies, especially the JD(U) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu's TDP.
"But all that Nitish Kumar cared for was how many berths in the ministry his party was getting. He even used his new-found clout to fix those in the BJP, whose turban was an eyesore," he said in an indirect reference to Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, who was recently removed from the post of state BJP president.
The former poll strategist maintained that 'Jan Suraaj' will contest the Bihar assembly polls, due next year, without allying with any other party.
"We will win. The people of Bihar are fed up with the vicious cycle they have been forced into by Nitish, BJP and the RJD, which is currently in the opposition but has had short-lived alliances with the JD(U). On October 2, 1 crore people will together float the new party. It will be for the first time in history that a party will be founded by so many people," claimed Kishor.
He also dismissed suggestions that the absence of a solid caste base could be a concern in a state like Bihar, pointing out that in by-polls to the state legislature a number of candidates, enjoying the support of Jan Suraaj, have won.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
