PATNA: The Bihar BJP on Wednesday alleged that Jan Suraaj Party founder and candidate Prashant Kishor won the Bankipur Assembly by-election by spreading rumours and peddling a false narrative among voters.
Kishor defeated BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by a margin of 19,324 votes in the by-poll. The BJP had held the Bankipur seat since 1995. The by-election was necessitated after Nitin Nabin vacated the constituency following his election to the Rajya Sabha after being elevated as the BJP's national president.
State BJP president Sanjay Saraogi told reporters, after a meeting lasting around two-and-a-half hours to analyse the reasons behind the party's defeat, that the majority of workers who shared their feedback believed Kishor had won by spreading rumours and falsely attributing a statement to a senior BJP leader.
The meeting, held at the party's state headquarters in Patna, was attended by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, MLAs from Patna district, key workers involved in the Bankipur by-poll and other senior party leaders. It took place after the by-poll results were declared on August 3.
During the campaign, Kishor repeatedly alleged that BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad had remarked that "even a cat or dog" ("kutta-billi") could win the seat on the party's ticket.
Making the alleged remark a central plank of his campaign, Kishor told voters at almost every public meeting that the BJP was "underestimating the wisdom and judgment" of the electorate. The allegation emerged as one of the Jan Suraaj Party's principal campaign themes against the ruling party.
A day after the by-poll results were announced, former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad denied ever making the statement, calling the claim false. "I had not made any such statement," he told reporters.
Saraogi also dismissed allegations of sabotage within the party, saying there had been no backstabbing during the by-poll and that party workers and leaders had carried out their assigned responsibilities.
