PK's first show of strength in Patna turns out be a damp squib

It was all set for a grand maiden show by poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party, with the historic Gandhi Maidan meticulously prepared with all necessary arrangements for nearly 3-4-lakh people.

However, at 6 pm, when Kishor took the stage, he straightaway apologised for the below par attendance of people and blamed it on the administration for leaving “nearly two lakh people stranded in traffic around Patna despite prior information about the rally”.

“But don’t worry. I will stay here till late night and meet all of you. They may have stopped people from reaching the Gandhi Maidan today at the behest of the state government out of fear, but within 10 days I will launch the Bihar Badlav Yatra to reach out to every panchayat and block. When the people have made up their mind, nobody can stop change in Bihar, as a storm is blowing for it now,” he added.

Kishor said that if the people could end the RJD regime’s ‘jungle Raj unleashed by criminals’, they could also do the same with Nitish regime’s ‘jungle raj unleashed by officers’.

“Gear up for the next six months to have a ‘janata ki sarkaar’ in November. Today Nitish Kumar is trying to prevent people from coming here, but had I not helped him in 2015 he would have taken retirement then itself,” he added.

Maintaining that in November, he would ensure the “political funeral” of Nitish Kumar, Kishor said that he had been moving around to help people reach the Gandhi Maidan, but to no avail, as the administration was not cooperative.

Traffic SP (Patna) Aparajit Lohan was prompt to share the real-time GPS location of the Gandhi Setu, JP Setu and Gandhi Maidan, which showed police deployment and smooth flow of traffic. For a change, the usually chaotic Gandhi Setu had free movement in the video clip.

“We will serve notice to the rally organisers for not furnishing right information regarding parking facility, as it caused some problems near Gandhi Maidan. We had to shift vehicle to Ganga Path,” he added.

JD-U spokesman Neeraj Kumar, however, said that the rally had “just as much attendance as the normal number of evening walkers at the Gandhi Maidan”.

“Through rally, PK has done well to expose himself and there was no point putting the blame on others for his failures. He thought politics was business, but it is not so. He has got the message. Change does not come by talking big,” he added.