Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM)-Secular is unlikely to remain an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the party is looking for a excuse to sever its ties with the BJP-led alliance. HAM, which was formed after Manjhi was deposed in February last from the post of the Chief Minister, had aligned with the NDA before the Assembly polls but suffered a crushing defeat like other allies including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
New Bihar president of HAM Brishen Patel on Wednesday broadly hinted that the party might end association with the BJP. At the party meeting Patel said, “Minorities have absolutely no links with the NDA. The parties going with the BJP are bound to lose the support of minorities. If we end our association with the NDA, minorities can be attracted to us. To win an election their support is must.”
Patel was appointed State president by Manjhi after the Assembly poll debacle after Shakuni Choudhary owing moral responsibility of the defeat resigned from the post.
Patel said this matter would be discussed threadbare in the party before taking a final decision. He is supposed to have discussed the matter with Manjhi and other senior leaders of the party most of them are reportedly against continuing alliance with the BJP.
HAM in alliance with the NDA contested 21 seats and Manjhi himself fought from two seats. The party could win just one seat with Manjhi winning from Imamganj while all its top leaders licked the dust.
The new party was formed in May last amid much fanfare calling Nitish Kumar its enemy number one. Before Assembly polls and before aligning with JD(U), lalu Prasad had shown soft corner towards Manjhi treating him as a big leader of Mahadalit.
Those taking Patel’s statement seriously are of the opinion that HAM could approach lalu for its future course of action.
Reacting to Patel’s statement, Manjhi however, played safe and said only the working committee of the party is empowered to take decision on continuing or severing ties with the NDA. “It is still pre-mature to say anything. What Patel has said is his personal views,” he said and reminded that when Nitish Kumar was NDA the JD(U) had been getting votes of the minorities. “It is not that because of our association with the BJP we did not get the votes of Muslims. In this election Muslims had strong feeling about the BJP and that could be the reason we get not get their votes. There is no dearth of people who were saying that HAM could be in a better position had it contested alone,” said Manjhi.
HAM leaders utterances speculating party’s association with the NDA created a debate in the political circle. State RJD president Ram Chandra Purbe said not only the minorities but entire secular population was against NDA.
He also said that NDA partners never had unity on any issue. BJP leader Prem Kumar avoided a comment on HAM. He said, “BJP’s policy is sab ka sath sab ka vikas.”