PATNA: Political strategist Prashant Kishor (PK) on Thursday made it clear that he was not in a hurry to float a political party soon and announced that he would undertake a 3000-km long 'Padyatra' (journey on foot), crisscrossing Bihar for eliciting opinions of the people of the state on good governance.
Amid speculations over his next move, PK told the media in Patna that a database of 17,500-18,000 odd people had been created and it was being continuously updated. He said that he would meet all these people in the next 3-4 months with the thought of 'Jan Suraj' (people's good governance).
He said that if the majority of people whom he would meet stressed the need for floating a new party, the necessary formalities would be completed.
"I will not be the chief of any such political party if it will be floated, nor its 'sarvesarva' (holding all powers). He also sought to allay any fear that he would quit his 'Padyatra' midway, resolving to complete it even if there were some problems.
"I have met 150-200 people in. the last three days and 90 percent of them hold the view that Bihar needs a new approach towards development as the existing one will not push the state's growth enough so that it emerges as a developed state in the next 15 years," he added.
PK said that he would launch his 'Padyatra' from West Champaran on October 2 and would criss-cross the state in a year, meeting people who were linked to the issues of Bihar and also understood them and had the capability to bring changes and also a zeal for them.
He said that RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his supporters claimed that they lent a voice to social justice during 15 years of the rule while the present regime claimed that it had given attention to the development and social issues all these years. Their claim have some truth too but even the union government puts Bihar at the lowest level in terms of all parameters of development even when the same alliance was in power in the state as well as in the centre, he added.
'A new vision and a new initiative are required", he remarked.
While taking a dig at the Nitish government by alleging that education and health sectors were in shambles and jobs were not created in the state, PK sought to show his proximity with chief minister Nitish Kumar by saying he had personal relations with him, albeit he (PK) was free to have his own development agenda.