Cornered Jitan Manjhi seeks solace in Modi

With Bihar assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary recognising the election of Nitish Kumar as leader of the JD(U) legislator party, the former Chief Minister has taken an upper hand in the ongoing battle for the top post with his protégé Jitan Ram Manjhi. However, the stalemate continued with Manjhi ruling out his resignation from the CM’s post. Addressing a press conference soon after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Manjhi said, “I am still the CM of Bihar; will prove majority in assembly or step down if I can’t. I’m ready for the floor test”.

Hitting out at Nitish Kumar, Manjhi said that the former CM had been exposed and accused him of humiliating Mahadalits. Replying to a question on his meeting with PM, Manjhi said, “I asked PM to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the state, but didn’t discuss politics with him.”

However, JD-U leaders have accused BJP of plotting against Kumar. “The master-minds of this game are Modi and Amit Shah who do not want Nitish Kumar to become the CM of Bihar by any chance,” JD(U) leader KC Tyagi told Millennium Post.

Meanwhile in Patna, staking claim to form government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, a delegation of JD (U) leaders and its allies (RJD, Congress and CPI) on Sunday submitted a letter of support of 130 MLAs to the Governor office. Now, with the ball in Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi’s court, possibility of some new political realignment cannot be ruled out. “Going by his antecedents, Tripathi, who has also served as the Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Assembly, will take his final call only after consulting BJP high command,” a BJP insider said, adding that it may decide on the impasse after the final outcome of Delhi Assembly polls on Tuesday. State JD(U) chief Basisth Narain Singh said that he had also submitted a letter to the Governor apprising him on JD(U) national president Sharad Yadav’s letter to the incumbent CM Jitan Ram Manjhi that he had ceased to remain the ruling party’s legislature party leader after Kumar’s election to the post on Saturday.