The internal bickering in the ruling JD(U) exploded on Saturday when the spokesman of the party publicly demanded resignation of two Ministers who are exhibiting their closeness to Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. JD(U) spokesman Ajay Alok asked senior Ministers Narendra Singh and Nitish Mishra to resign and quit the party before joining the BJP.
This is possibly the first incident when the spokesman of the ruling party ever asked Ministers to quit and exit the party. “This is the official stand of the party,” Alok said and added that he had been authorised by the top leadership to make the stand public. Both the Ministers Singh and Mishra are now regarded as close to beleaguered CM Manjhi whom is apprehending that he might be removed since party’s top leader Nitish Kumar is angry with him. “These Ministers are betraying party’s supreme leader Nitish Kumar,” said Alok who is close to former Chief Minister.
In course of the ongoing power tussle between Nitish and Manjhi, the party as well as the Government is clearly divided in two groups. Some senior Ministers recently through their statements backed Manjhi. Rural Development Minister Mishra said that Manjhi is a force now and even a thought to remove him would be wrong. Agriculture Minister Singh said removing Manjhi would be suicidal. Mishra is son of three time CM of Bihar Jagannath Mishra. The senior Mishra too has praised PM Narendra Modi time and again recently.
The serious tussle for the leadership has warmed up while the talks for the merger of JD(U) and five other parties is still going on. Alok reminded that it was Singh who had moved a resolution at the party meeting after Manjhi was picked up that the party would contest election under the leadership of Nitish and that he would be the next Chief Minister if the party comes back to power.
The JD(U) spokesman further said that Mishra in 2010 had apologised to Nitish. “If these two and also others in the party have any confusion they should resign from the party. We know that these two Ministers have already made up their mind to join BJP,” Alok said. Alok is not the only spokesman of JD(U) speaking harsh words against leaders of his own party and asking them to resign. Another JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar severely criticised CM Manjhi for visiting Anirudh Prasad aka Sadhu Yadav, former RJD MP and controversial brother-in-law of RJD supremo lalu Prasad, who hosted Makar Sankranti feast on Friday. “Sadhu has been a symbol of terror and crime in Bihar,” said Kumar.
The attacks were mounted at a time when Manjhi is away to Shirdi and scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on January 20.