Amid political stalemate in Bihar, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, with 130 MlAs, met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday and urged him to advise the State Governor to take an immediate decision on the Chief Minister’s issue alleging that any delay will pollute the atmosphere in the State and encourage “horse-trading”.
In an apparent change of tactics from demanding that he be called upon to form a Government, Nitish said the Governor can ask incumbent CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, now expelled from the JD(U), to prove his majority in the Assembly, but at the earliest. Talking to the media later, Nitish said that delay by the Governor is “vitiating” atmosphere and encouraging “horse-trading”.
Meanwhile, JD(U) leaders have alleged to have been offered huge sum of money to shift loyality to Manjhi. JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh told The Pioneer, “Some of the MlAs are being offered bribes to favour Manjhi.” On a day when the Patna High Court stayed his election as JD(U) legislature party leader, Nitish took the political battle of Bihar to Rashtrapati Bhawan parading 130 MlAs supporting him. Nitish was accompanied by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, RJD leader lalu Prasad, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, and senior Congress leader CP Joshi.
Alleging that the Narendra Modi Government at Centre was “conspiring” to impose President rule in Bihar, lalu Prasad said Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi should take immediate decision and ask Manjhi to prove his majority. “Bihar is a sensitive State. We don’t know what will happen in Bihar if President rule is imposed,” said lalu.
The presence of Mulayam and lalu sends a strong political message in coming together of “Janata Parivar”. Nitish and 130 MlAs arrived in the national Capital in two commercial flights on Tuesday. The MlAs were housed in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, which is under the Samajwadi Party’s rule. The assembling point of the MlAs before leaving for Rashtrapati Bhawan was Sharad Yadav’s Tughlaq Road residence.
Nitish and lalu have announced that Mulayam has been authorised to look into the nitty-gritty of the making of Janata Parivar ahead of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Congress leader Joshi and BPCC president Ashok Chowdhury too joined hands with the “Janata Parivar” to present a secular front.
The SP and the Congress coming together is also significant since it has happened against the backdrop of BJP’s humiliating defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls at the hands of Arvind Kejriwal. Addressing the media after meeting the President, Nitish alleged that there was “a game plan to impose President’s rule in Bihar”.
“The President heard all the issues and at the end said that he will look into the matter,” Kumar said when asked about Mukherjee’s reaction. “There is a clear majority on one side. In Patna, we paraded 130 MlAs in front of Governor and now they were paraded in front of the President. They are standing here with me. It is enough proof to know where the majority is. Despite this, not paving the way for formation of a Government is an injustice,” said the former Bihar Chief Minister.
Nitish had staked claim before the Governor on February 9 to form a Government even though Manjhi insisted that he too enjoyed support of the majority of MlAs. Terming the Bihar political situation as “an internal matter of JD(U)”, the BJP said it has nothing to do with it and will take a decision on whether to support Manjhi or not only on the floor of the Assembly when the matter is taken up.
Attacking Nitish for being responsible for the current situation, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said it is because of his “craving for power” he has been turned from “PM-in-waiting” to “CM-in-waiting”. Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan alleged that JD(U) MlAs were “kept in captivity” and asked Manjhi to ensure that the MlAs are “freed” so that they can vote freely during a trust vote in the Assembly.
Paswan pointed out a similar situation in February 2005, when his lok Janshakti Party MlAs were taken to Jharkhand to help JD(U) form a Government in the State. Meanwhile in a fresh twist to the political logjam, RJD MP Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, came out in support of Manjhi and asked his party chief lalu Prasad to reconsider the decision to remove him.
“If we want to fight communalism, we cannot do it after weakening the ideology of social justice. There is a need to project a hero of common man in Bihar. At present, Manjhi (a Mahadalit) should be allowed to remain Chief Minister. He was doing a lot for the Dalits and minorities. I request laluji to reconsider his decision supporting Manjhi’s replacement with Kumar,” Yadav said.