Bankipur Bypoll: Ravi Shankar Prasad Denies ‘Kutta-Billi’ Remark, Challenges Proof After PK’s Victory

Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor’s repeated allegation that BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad had claimed that even a “kutta-billi” (cat or dog) could win the Bankipur Assembly seat on the party’s ticket has become the centre of a political dispute following the bypoll results.

According to The Indian Express, Kishor had invoked the alleged remark throughout his campaign, using it as a key line of attack against the BJP. In speeches across the constituency, he accused the ruling party of underestimating the “discretion and intellect” of voters by making such assumptions about the electorate.

A day after the JSP founder secured a decisive victory in the bypoll, Prasad, a former Union minister and BJP’s Patna Sahib MP, rejected the claim and said he had never made any such statement.

In a clarification video issued on Tuesday, Prasad noted, “How can people stoop to such a level? Neither I nor any BJP worker made a ‘kutta-billi’ reference at any point. I challenge them to show proof of any such remark. In fact, I had even clarified before the election how JSP was making a motivated statement by falsely attributing it to us. We respect each of our workers and voters.”

Responding to questions on why the BJP did not issue a stronger rebuttal during the campaign despite the allegation being repeatedly raised by JSP, Prasad said the party had already clarified its position.

“We did clarify it. There was no need to repeatedly address something we never said. But if someone stoops to such levels just to win an election, we can only condemn it,” he said.

Kishor’s remarks were made in the context of the BJP fielding a relatively unknown candidate for the seat, which was earlier represented by Nitin Nabin, now the party’s national president. After the BJP withdrew the candidature of Abhishek Bunty following his father’s conviction in a fodder scam case, booth-level worker Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a nominee of Nabin, was brought into the contest.

Post-poll Blame

Reacting to Prasad’s clarification, senior JSP leader and former MLA Kishore Kumar Munna told The Indian Express that the BJP’s response after the defeat showed that its leaders were struggling to accept the result.

“Now that the BJP has lost the election, its leaders are coming with several kinds of clarifications. It shows that they are not able to digest defeat. Isn’t it true that the BJP had fielded a very weak candidate in such a high-profile constituency? Voters have responded by choosing the best candidate,” he said.

Formerly known as Patna West, Bankipur has a long political history. The constituency was represented by former Chief Minister Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, who defeated then-Congress Chief Minister K B Sahay in the 1967 elections. Janata Party’s Thakur Prasad later won the seat in 1977.

The Bankipur Assembly segment includes several important institutions and centres of power, including the Chief Minister’s House, Raj Bhavan, the Bihar Legislature, and the state headquarters of the BJP, JD(U) and RJD.