Gopalganj, Oct 24 – Prashant Kishor, the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party, publicly endorsed rebel BJP candidate Anup Kumar Srivastava during a press conference in Gopalganj on Friday. Kishor claimed that his own party nominee, Shashi Shekhar Sinha, withdrew from the election due to pressure from the BJP.

Kishor emphasized that Srivastava’s candidacy represents an “exception” to the Jan Suraaj Party’s policy of not granting tickets to disgruntled members from other parties who join just before elections. Srivastava is running as an Independent candidate.

Kishor highlighted Srivastava’s background as a prominent social worker and former district BJP president, noting that he felt overlooked by the party in favor of candidates with more financial resources. “In this constituency, both he and the Jan Suraaj Party are victims of BJP’s injustice,” Kishor stated.

Sinha, who is 76 years old, withdrew from the race citing health concerns, but Kishor alleged that he succumbed to pressure from the BJP after a brief campaign period. The Jan Suraaj Party has previously lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, accusing the BJP of coercing its candidates to withdraw from the elections.

Kishor also displayed photographs of his party’s candidates, including Danapur candidate Mutru Sah with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Brahmapur nominee Satya Prakash Tiwari with BJP election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, to suggest that the BJP leadership was involved in undermining his candidates.

While acknowledging that the nomination process has concluded and the Jan Suraaj Party symbol cannot be allocated to Srivastava, Kishor declared that Srivastava would be considered part of the Jan Suraaj family, receiving full support from the party despite his Independent status. “We want to give the BJP a taste of its own medicine,” he asserted.