Former election strategist Prashant Kishor’s long-pending entry into electoral politics came today with the formal launch of his Jan Suraj group as a political party. The Jan Suraj Party is expected to contest in all seats of Bihar in the next assembly election. 

Mr Kishor, who talks of changing the paradigm for voting — shifting it from caste and electoral sops to a vision for the future — has said who heads the party will be a decision of the people who worked for the group over the last two years. 

For more than last two years, Mr Kishor has been travelling across the state, raising awareness about what he says ought to be election agenda. 

Earlier this year, he had announced that he was ready for a formal launch as a political party. His Jan Suraj, he had said, would offer the people a fresh alternative.

“In Bihar, in the last 25 to 30 years, people have been voting for RJD or BJP. That compulsion should end. The alternate should not belong to any dynastic party, but people who wish to form the party,” he had said.

Mr Kishor had started the Jan Suraj initiative after a brief stint in the ruling Janata Dal United of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the Congress’s aborted effort to recruit him to revitalise the party. 

Offered a slot on the party’s “Empowered Action Group” after extensive talks in 2022, Mr Kishor had declined, with pointed remarks about the Congress’s lack of “collective will to fix deep rooted structural problems”.

He had launched the Jan Sena with a yatra and says its conversion to a political party is only the halfway mark on his journey. 

Mr Kishor has said he aims to visit every village in Bihar to educate residents on improving their living standards and those of their children, encouraging people not to vote under pressure from misguided leaders and work towards the progress of the state on key parameters including education, agriculture, and employment.

The next stage of his initiative would be presenting a blueprint of solutions for the challenges Bihar is facing, he has said.   

A 23-year-old man has been arrested for stabbing a bus conductor in Bengaluru after he was asked to stand away from the automatic doors of the vehicle. The bus conductor, 45-year-old Yogesh, was hospitalised and is out of danger, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has said.

Videos of the incident, in which Harsh Sinha is seen attacking Yogesh and threatening other passengers, have gone viral on social media. NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of the videos.

According to a PTI report, Harsh Sinha, originally from Jharkhand, was recently fired by a BPO firm and was jobless for about three weeks. He told police that he was frustrated over losing his job.

CCTV Footage Shows Bengaluru Man Stabbing Bus Conductor After Door Warning

A 25-year-old man was arrested in #Bengaluru for stabbing a #BMTC conductor after being asked to move away from the door. #cctv #bengalurucrime #knife pic.twitter.com/GccN6X66FW

— Madhuri Adnal (@madhuriadnal) October 2, 2024

Police have said that the incident occurred near ITPL bus stop last evening. Yogesh asked Harsh to stand away from the footboard as it was causing inconvenience for passengers boarding and deboarding the bus. This led to an altercation between the two. Harsh Sinha then pulled out a knife from his bag and stabbed the bus conductor.

The shocking attack sparked panic in the bus and passengers started rushing out. In one of the videos circulating on social media, Harsh Sinha is seen threatening the other passengers. The bus driver, Siddalingaswamy, locked the door and jumped out and Harsh was trapped inside.

He then started kicking at the glass doors and breaking them to escape the vehicle.

With the accused trapped inside the bus, the driver and the passengers called the police and the attacker was arrested.

“The bus conductor was admitted to a hospital. He sustained two-three stab injuries but is out of danger now. The accused passenger has been arrested in the attempt to murder case,” PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.