Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who loves to trigger and remain in controversy, accused media of attempting to create uncertainty in the State by falsely propagating that Manjhi was being removed and that his days were numbered. There had never been talks of his removal at any stage, he claimed, adding media through ‘concocted’ stories was sending wrong message to people and bureaucracy. He lauded former CM Nitish Kumar for refuting such reports and expressed gratitude to some of his senior Ministers who came out in his support.
Reacting to the issue of leadership, the CM reiterated that when there would be selection of new leader of JD(U), “Manjhi will propose the name of Nitish. No one else other can be a better CM than Nitish.”
But in the same breath Manjhi claimed that the society he comes from has aspirations that the next CM should be from that section of the society (Mahadalit). “I never claimed that I am a better CM than Nitish,” he added.
Manjhi, who was talking to media after his weekly Janata Darbar on Monday, said after the merger of the Janata Parivar, it would be the responsibility of the leaders of all the merged parties to decide who would be the leader. As far as JD(U) is concerned, Nitish will be the most acceptable leader, he said.
The CM was so upset with the recent media reports about his possible ouster that he even asked people at a public meeting in Vaishali a couple of days back that they should file FIR against the media houses for printing or airing baseless reports in newspapers and news channels.
Manjhi said if the Centre concedes State’s various demands he would thank PM Narendra Modi and extend his hands of friendship to him. “I am seeking time to meet the PM and Press for the pending demands,” said the CM who once called on Modi about three months back.
Manjhi, 69, recently said that he would consider taking Sanyas from active politics, clarified that he was of the opinion that after 70 those in social life should take retirement. “After 70 years of age I am planning to retire but if there will be pressure I would continue but after 75 absolutely not in any case,” he said.
Ripples were created in the Government and bureaucracy on Sunday when the CM met the officials and staff belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. When asked about it, Manjhi refused to divulge and said it was a ‘secret’ meeting. He said it was not the first but fourth meeting of this nature and asked media if they had questioned his predecessor Nitish, who he said also held such meetings during his tenure.
“The officials raised certain issues related to the denial of promotion and discrimination in transfer and posting. We discussed these issues at the meeting and it was not appropriate to invite media at this meeting,” he said. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh also defended holding the meeting and denied any politics, caste-ism or constitutional impropriety. He said the SC and ST employees have formed their unions in various departments at the Centre and they have also been recognised by the Union Government.