The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused political strategist Prashant Kishor of secretly travelling to Kolkata on a cargo flight amid the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown.
Kishor's political consultancy firm, the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), is presently engaged in helping West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress with the 2021 legislative Assembly elections in the state.
In a statement, Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand demanded to know by whose permission Kishor, who is not a government official, airline crew member, healthcare worker or journalist, travelled to Kolkata.
“Why must this travel not be considered illegal in view of the lockdown?” Anand asked.
“We demand that the documents which have facilitated his travel, secretly in a cargo plane dodging the lockdown, be made public. Else we would put pressure on the Airport Authority of India and the Civil Aviation Ministry to order an inquiry into the episode,” he further added.
When contacted by news agency PTI, Kishor said that those making these allegations must furnish proof of the same.
"If he (the BJP spokesman) is speaking the truth, he should furnish details like which flight I boarded and the time when it took off and landed. If he does so, I will retire from public life. If not, people like him should apologise", Kishor told PTI.
Ajay Alok, leader of the Janata Dal (United), of which Kishor was a part, before being expelled for his stance against party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also criticised Kishor and Mamata.
"During the pandemic people are seeking masks, sanitizers, ventilators and other equipment alongside doctors and nurses. Didi (Mamata) ordered such a heavy duty cargo item,” said Alok in a tweet.
Prashant Kishor shot to fame after the 2014 general elections in India after he handled Prime Minister Modi's winning election campaign. Now, however, he has had a falling out with the BJP and is one of their severest critics.
Kishor and I-PAC have handled winning election campaigns for the Congress in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, JD(U) in Bihar, the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The only blemish on his near-perfect electoral record is the loss in the Uttar Pradesh state elections of 2017, when he worked with the Congress.
(With inputs from PTI)
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