Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday announced the launch of his political outfit, Jan Suraaj Party, a move long-awaited, which he hopes will send shock waves through the landscape in Bihar.
Kishor also named Manoj Bharti, a Madhubani-born former Indian Foreign Service Officer, as working president of the party, saying the latter would hold the post till March when organizational polls will be held.
The party was launched at Veterinary College Ground in the state capital in presence of many renowned figures, including former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav, diplomat-turned-politician Pavan Varma and ex-MP Monazir Hassan.
Two years after the launching of a more than 3,000-km-long 'padayatra' of the state from Champaran, where Mahatma Gandhi had started the country's first Satyagraha, with the objective of mobilizing people for a "new political alternative" that could cure Bihar of its chronic backwardness, the party was floated.
Speaking on the occasion, the founder of I-PAC, who quit political consultancy a couple of years ago, said, "Jan Suraaj has been a campaign aimed at making the people of Bihar understand that they have not been able to get quality education and job opportunities because they have never voted on these issues. We can be ridiculed by cynics who will say how will we fulfill promises like stopping migration. But we have a blueprint."
"We will need more than Rs 4 lakh crore to strengthen education in the state. We will raise the money by scrapping the prohibition law which is annually causing losses to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore.". Once Jan Suraaj comes to power, the ban on liquor will be scrapped within one hour," said the 47-year-old leader, known to be a strident critic of the move by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his former mentor. Whatever he says, we don't want to talk about special status. But we shall compel banks to make available capital to the state in proportion to the savings deposited by its people. At present, it appears that money saved by Biharis is being utilized elsewhere, said Kishor.
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