Nitish Kumar has compromised, should sack deputy CM Samrat, says Prashant Kishor

Prashant Kishor said the deputy chief minister should be in jail, as the court had granted him benefits on the premise that he was a minor in 1995, which he was not

PATNA: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Monday dared chief minister Nitish Kumar to act against deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary for allegedly using a forged age certificate to wriggle out of a 1995 murder case, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader used the forged certificate to claim that he was a minor at the time of the crime.

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor addresses a press conference in Patna on Monday. (ANI)

Choudhary insisted the allegation was baseless. “The court acquitted me in 1997-98 only. PK (Prashant Kishor) is trying to fight a perception battle, as he has not been left with any issues. Levelling allegations is the easiest thing to do to grab headlines, especially during election time,” the deputy chief minister told media persons.

Prashant Kishor rejected the minister’s defence. “He should be in jail, as the court granted him benefits as a minor, which he never was. There was no acquittal. We are producing his matric (Class 10) document, which shows his date of birth as June 1, 1985, produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) to hoodwink the law and his Election Commission affidavit submitted by him in 2020, which says he was 51 years of age, which means he was 26 years of age in 1995,” the Jan Suraj leader said, referring to a 1995 case in which seven people from the Kishwaha community were killed in Tarapur.

At the time, Kishor added, Samrat Choudhary had benefited due to proximity to the then RJD government.

Kishor’s newly formed party has been attempting to carve out a space for itself in Bihar’s electoral landscape, which has been primarily dominated by the Janata Dal-United, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Apart from Samrat Choudhary, Kishor’s other targets have been Ashok Choudhary, a state minister and national general secretary of the JD(U), former Bihar BJP president and Paschim Champaran Lok Sabha MP Sanjay Jaiswal and Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal over corruption charges.

Kishor said it was unfortunate that Nitish Kumar, who often vowed never to compromise on crime, corruption or communalism, had allowed these leaders to continue.

On BJP leaders questioning the source of funding for his party, Kishore said that he had released details of ₹241 crore, complete with income tax and GST details. “They cannot bunch me with thieves. I have contributed ₹98 crore to the social initiative aimed at transforming Bihar. Imagine, Tejashwi is also talking of releasing the list of corruption officials - he will end up naming his own family members and party leaders, who created the empire through crime and corruption,” he added.