ALL OR NOTHING FOR PK

THE POLL STRATEGIST-TURNED-NETA'S CHARGES AGAINST THE RULING NDA LEADERS MAY UPSET THE CALCULUS OF BIHAR'S ENTRENCHED FORCES, EVEN IF HE DOES NOT WIN BIG HIMSELF

- By AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

A NEW APPEAL
Kishor at a rally in Kaimur district during his Bihar Badlav Yatra in August

On the afternoon of September 29, as families flocked to Patna's teeming Durga puja pandals, poll strategistturned-neta Prashant Kishor offered a different sort of spectacle. Having called a press conference, he waved a dossier in front of reporters while rattling off a fresh set of allegations against some of the senior leaders in the ruling Janata Dal (United)-BJP government in Bihar. Kishor's target was five senior figures: veteran JD(U) minister Ashok Choudhary, and deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, health minister Mangal Pandey, state unit chief Dilip Jaiswal and West Champaran MP Sanjay Jaiswal from the BJP. Each allegation, new and old, was accompanied by its own set of legal notices, threats of lawsuits and vows to publish more documents so that the disputes immediately became both legal contests and a media spectacle.