"Pegasus (Spyware) Has My Number": Prashant Kishor's Swipe At BJP

Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday took a swipe at the BJP as his name had figured among the alleged targets of the Pegasus snooping scandal.

He made a reference to the spyware while debunking the accusation of remaining in touch, clandestinely, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal suspects that I have secret conversations with Nitish Kumar. Why does he not get it investigated? His party is in power at the Centre. And Pegasus has my number," the IPAC founder said, tongue in cheek, at Lauria in West Champaran district.

Names of several politicians, civil rights activists, journalists and other public figures in the country had figured among the alleged targets when the scandal came to the fore in 2020. Kishor was then handling the campaign of Mamata Banerjee, who returned to power with a thumping majority after the assembly polls held the year after.

Though parties opposed to the BJP have been demanding an investigation into allegations of snooping, the ruling party has sought to dub the whole affair as an "international conspiracy" to malign India.

Mr Kishor has now launched in Bihar a campaign "Jan Suraaj" which is expected to evolve into a full-fledged political party after completion of his 3,500-km-long "pada-yatra", covering the entire state.

His promise of helping his home state realise its full potential with a "better political alternative" has miffed the BJP, as well as the Chief Minister's JD(U) and both parties have been accusing him of being the "agent" of the other.

Training his guns at the JD(U), of which he had been a top office-bearer till his expulsion, Kishor said, "The party has no future. Its entry does not make the Mahagathbandhan a viable alternative to the BJP. There is no guarantee that there will not be another volte face by Nitish Kumar".

Mr Kishor claimed that established political parties in Bihar have got accustomed to garnering votes by lazy scare-mongering.

"The BJP does little in Bihar except raising the bogey of return of (RJD president) Lalu ji. Lalu ji did the same to get votes of those wary of the BJP," he said.

All these parties are wary of a new alternative being thrown up by "the society" and hence they are all making "wild allegations against me", he alleged.

Mr Kishor also claimed that Bihar has come to a pass where people have given up all hope in the government.

"In West Champaran district, which I have toured extensively, people are affected by flash floods but neither the local MP nor MLAs nor bureaucrats have bothered to visit the affected places. Many villages have been declared ODF because of pressure from higher authorities despite no sanitation facilities. Roads, too, are in a pathetic state", he alleged.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)