Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday asked his supporters to “punish” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the coming Assembly election for humiliating a Mahadalit and cancelling 34 decisions he had taken as the Chief Minister. Declaring his decision regarding launching his own political party within a month, he said his party would go for post-poll ties with any party or alliance which would not have Nitish with it.
Addressing his much touted ‘Garib Swabhiman’ rally here at Gandhi Maidan under the banner of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), Manjhi said his party would have no hesitation in either taking or giving support to parties, including the BJP. He further stated that he was ready to support lalu Prasad if he separates Nitish from his family.
The former CM warned the officials as well as the media in the same breath not to be scared of Nitish and his Government and work honestly. “I want to tell you that Nitish is not going to be there forever and when I will be at the helm of affairs you will feel the heat. If I ask my supporters not to watch so-and-so news channels or not read some newspapers, the media will be under threat,” Manjhi said while saying that Nitish has ordered officials not to meet him and asked media not to cover him.
The rally, for which Manjhi laboured hard and traveled across the State to mobilise crowd, was however, not as impressive as it was expected. Manjhi had been saying that he would take sanyas and get down from the dais if there would be less than five lakh people.
To save the people from the scorching sun, shamianas had been erected and all the participants sat under it leaving major parts of the sprawling Maidan vacant. Manjhi however, claimed that lakhs of people came at his call.
While recounting his decisions taken in the interest of different sections of the society, Manjhi hit hard at Nitish and said, “Nitish has donned a veil of social justice but he committed dishonesty by canceling those decisions.” He alleged large-scale scams in the infrastructure development projects including road, bridge and construction of big buildings. He called it ‘estimate scam’ and alleged that for a project which could be completed in Rs 1 crore is estimated at Rs 7 crore and the big money goes to Ministers, bureaucrats and other stakeholders.
He also alleged that deal has been struck with officials for good postings in lieu of bribe and soon their postings would be made. Manjhi demanded CBI probe into what he alleged scam in the paddy procurement as a result of which farmers were on brink of committing suicide and were not getting minimum support price.
Earlier, Manjhi thanked Nitish, though in sarcastic tenure, for making him the Chief Minister “by mistake”. He said, “He made me the CM only to save his own face and escape attacks as a fallout of crushing defeat in the lok Sabha election. He thought that I will be his yes man and sign on the dotted lines. For two three months I did it but when I started asserting, he turned against me and realised his mistake.”
The HAM authorised Manjhi to constitute a new political party. Sources said that Manjhi is keeping a watch on the merger of JD(U) and RJD and has expressed desire to maintain the JD(U).