COVID-19 to China: Prashant Kishor's 'atmanirbhar' dig at Centre

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has fired a fresh salvo against the central government, accusing it of prioritising elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, India-China border tensions, and the economic slowdown, leaving the atmanirbhar citizens to fend for themselves.

“Be it the state elections or ensuring votes for Rajya Sabha polls… the EFFICIENCY of our system & RESOLVE of our leadership is for ALL to see,” Kishor said in a tweet in Hindi on Friday (June 19). This came on a day when voting is being held for 19 seats of the Rajya Sabha.

For the rest, from Indo-China tensions to COVID-19 to economic slowdown, he said, “It is for the people of #Atmanirbhar_Bharat to take care of themselves,” referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for the country to become self-reliant in the fight against COVID-19.

Kishor, a 43-year-old poll strategist, has been one of the constant critics of the Narendra Modi government. He was earlier the vice president of Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, but was expelled from the party earlier this year.

Voting to 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states is being held on Friday. Of the 19 seats, four each are from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two from Jharkhand, and one each from Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

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