Eyeing the Mahadalit votes, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief lalu Prasad has been wooing former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. He has been doing this despite Chief Minister and ally Nitish Kumar's reservation. When Mr Manjhi was forcibly pulled out by Mr Nitish Kumar from the post of Chief Minister, lalu Prasad had remained silent. In fact, he had tacitly supported the move to dislodge Mr Manjhi. But now the RJD supremo is requesting Mr Manjhi to join the Janata parivar with the sole aim of defeating the BJP and its partners.
Mr Manjhi is inclined to join lalu Prasad if the latter is willing to disassociate from Mr Nitish Kumar. He wants to be groomed as the chief ministerial candidate. Perhaps only then would he be willing to join hands with the Janata grouping. But Mr Nitish Kumar will not accept this proposal. Neither Mr Manjhi nor lalu Prasad has ideological reasons to join hands with each other.