New Delhi: The JD(U), led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, charged its former national vice president Prashant Kishor on Monday with acting "on behalf of the BJP" and questioned the funding of his widely publicised "Jan Suraaj" campaign.
The chief minister also poked fun at the media, claiming that some organisations publish news depending on their viewpoint, which is pointless and also damages those organisations' credibility.
The political crisis in the state unfolded with the grand old party's move to hold a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at the chief minister's residence on September 25.
"People have an extraordinary common sense and they understand everything," he told reporters. what is seen is not true and what is true is not
"Politics is done by multiplication and division. In politics, sometimes, seen," he said at a press conference on 'Invest Rajasthan', which will be held on October 7 and 8.
This meeting was seen as an exercise to change the chief minister before the election to choose the party president for which Gehlot was the front runner.
The party had sent AICC General Secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken and the then leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who is now contesting the poll, as observers to hold the CLP meeting.
However, hours before the meeting, MLAs loyal to Gehlot held a parallel meeting at Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal's residence against what they believed was a get-together to make Sachin Pilot the new chief minister.
The MLAs skipped the CLP meeting and submitted their resignation to Speaker CP Joshi at his house.
They demanded that the party choose someone from the 102 MLAs who supported Gehlot during the political crisis in July 2020 as his replacement if he were to leave the post and become the party president.
The 2020 rebellion against Gehlot was led by Pilot, then the deputy chief minister, with 18 MLAs. The CLP meeting did not take place.
Four days later, Gehlot met party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and apologised to her for not being able to get a one-line resolution passed in the meeting.
He took moral responsibility for the crisis and announced that he will not contest the presidential election.
After his return from Delhi, Gehlot has however indicated through his style of functioning that he will continue as the chief minister, although an official decision is awaited.
With PTI inputs