Prashant Kishor Says Nitish Kumar Brought Shame To Bihar By Touching PM Modi's Feet, BJP Reacts

Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor raised a storm when he accused Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of bringing shame to the state by touching Prime Minister Narendra Modi's  to maintain his grip on power. Kishor, who leads the 'Jan Suraaj' campaign in Bihar, made this claim while addressing a public gathering in Bhagalpur on Friday, news agency PTI reported.

"People question why I criticise Nitish Kumar now, despite having worked with him before. He was a different person then. His integrity was intact," said Kishor, who orchestrated the JD(U) leader's election campaign in 2015 and joined the party officially two years later. "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 was quoted as saying by PTI. Prashant Kishor was referring to an incident at the NDA meeting in Delhi last week.

Kumar's JD(U) secured 12 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, becoming the second largest partner in the NDA.

"There is much discussion about Nitish Kumar's crucial role in Modi's re-election. But how is the Bihar CM using his influence? He isn't leveraging his position to benefit the state. He is merely ensuring his own political survival, supported by the BJP, even beyond the 2025 assembly elections," Kishor said.

Reacting to his comments, the BJP said that it was the Jan Suraaj leader who had disgraced Bihar several times. "Prashant Kishor doesn't remember how many times Bihar had to face humiliation because of him. He has humiliated Bihar by this statement. It is Bihar's culture to touch the feet of elder brother, sister, father, and mother. This is below the belt statement, there is no need to comment on it. It seems that Prashant Kishor has forgot his culture," said BJP leader Ajay Alok.

RJD leader Manoj Jha said: "Politics is a very deep matter. It won’t be right to comment on this. I believe that Bihar got hurt more because of many other things. Like it didn’t get the status of a special state, didn’t get the special package, there's not enough job creation."

Kishor shot to the headlines in 2014 by managing PM Modi's highly successful Lok Sabha campaign. By the time he stepped away from political consultancy in 2021, he had worked with several political honchos, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, and Jagan Mohan Reddy.