The speculation reeling in State’s political corridor for the last few days that both the RJD and Congress would now be part of the Manjhi Government in Bihar got a new fillip on Tuesday when Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi himself said that he would expand his Cabinet after getting nod from party president Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, lalu Prasad and Sonia Gandhi.
“Once the leaders of the political parties would meet and take a final decision on being part of the Cabinet, he would expand his Cabinet,” said the Bihar Chief Minister.
Earlier, a JD(U) leader and State’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar had fuelled the speculation saying if these parties were alliance partners in the Government, why couldn’t they be part in the CabinetIJ “Yes, they can also be a part of the Government,” said Shrawan Kumar prompting some RJD and Congress leaders too to make reaction over it.
RJD MlA and leader Bhai Birendra responded soon after: “When we’re a part of the alliance which is running the Government, why can’t we be in the CabinetIJ But the decision in this regard will be taken by our party chief lalu Prasad”.
lalu is currently recuperating in a Mumbai hospital after his heart surgeries. Party sources said he will be taking rest for ten days in the hospital before coming to Patna.
Meanwhile, the RJD grapevine said the party now has decided to be part of the Manjhi Government and names of some party leaders close to lalu have also bee doing rounds as the likely candidates for inclusion in the Manjhi Cabinet.
However, State Congress chief Ashok Chaudhury said that such decisions were policy decisions and were taken by the party high command.
“If our central party leadership would decide to be a part of the Government, then we’ll be in the Government and if they would prefer to be outside of it, we’ll be supporting them from the outside,” Chaudhury said.
But, the ruling JD(U) insiders told The Pioneer that if the RJD and Congress leaders were being included in the Cabinet, then “there might be some dissension in the party as many party leaders were hoping for long to be in the Manjhi Ministry”.