With reports of the deep chasm between Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and some of his Ministers having allegiance to former CM Nitish Kumar becoming public domain, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and general secretary KC Tyagi on Wednesday rushed here and held a meeting with Nitish.
Amid the reports of the possible removal of Manjhi and return of Nitish on the top seat, the JD(U) dissident MlAs have decided to kickstart their ‘Bihar Bachao’ (Save Bihar) campaign and sources said Nitish will be their target of attack. These dissidents, whose strength is still not confirmed, are supporting Manjhi and have decided to oppose tooth and nail any attempt to replace Manjhi.
Interestingly, they will start their campaign from February 14, a day before the JD(U) workers’ convention called by Nitish. A dissident MlA Rajeshwar Raj said the campaign will begin from Bikramganj in Rohtas district. “This campaign is for restoration of internal democracy in the party. We firmly believe that situation in Bihar is getting bad to worse due to Nitish,” said Raj and claimed that they have about 24 MlAs in this campaign but the pictures of only 13 MlAs will be on the posters.
The former CM is deeply involved in arrangement of the convention to be held at Gandhi Maidan and holding meetings almost every day with the functionaries of various wings of the party. The meeting called by Nitish at his residence on Wednesday evening assumed significance in the light of these developments. However, party sources said the meeting was one of the series of meetings Nitish had convened in connection with February 15 convention. Among those who were invited in the Wednesday meeting included JD(U) candidates who unsuccessfully contested May 2014 lok Sabha polls.
CM Manjhi said he was not aware of any move to remove him. “I am reading such reports only in the media,” he quipped. Meanwhile, NCP leader and former Union Minister Tariq Anwar said, “Manjhi’s continuation will not be in the interest of Bihar. His statements are only damaging the reputation of the Government. The JD(U) should take a decision at the earliest.”
State JD(U) president Bashistha Narain Singh has admitted the differences of opinion between CM Manjhi and some of his Ministers and advised the CM to bridge this gulf. Sources said Manjhi was jittery over some of his ideas being shot down by some powerful Ministers at the cabinet meetings. Among the projects which could not be passed was proposal to enforce reservation for SC and ST in the contract for construction works.
The law department headed by Shahid Ali Khan raised objection on the plea that this provision would violate Constitution. The additional advocate general also opined that this could not be done in open tender contract. The finance department, also headed by pro-Nitish Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav asked the road construction department to seek information from other States about reservation policy. Yadav has also objected to Manjhi’s proposal to exempt school students of SC and ST from the mandatory 75% attendance for benefits. Rushing to the defence of Manjhi, leader of dissidents group Gyanendra Singh Gyanu said the Ministers who have no agreement with the CM should resign at one.
Meanwhile, another Nitish friend-turned-foe Shivanand Tiwary asked the former CM if his political ideology is to stop BJP or make things easy for it. He said Manjhi should be allowed to continue and the leader of the merged parties should be decided after the merger. “From the unabated statements by different leaders it appears the JD(U) instead of fighting with BJP is fighting Manjhi. Even if Nitish stands in Ganga and says he has nothing to do with these developments nobody is going to believe him,” said Tiwary, a former general secretary and spokesman of the JD(U).