lalu invites Manjhi for a united fight against BJP

RJD President lalu Prasad today invited former Chief Minister Jiten Ram Manjhi, a known detractor of Nitish Kumar, to join the process of uniting parties against BJP for the upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar.

"We are for broader unity of parties against BJP in which everybody, including Manjhi, shall come forward," he told reporters here before leaving for Delhi to attend a meeting of Janata Parivar constituents tomorrow.

"Be it merger or alliance, there is a need for broader unity of parties to fight together against BJP...Manjhi and others shall come forward for this," the RJD Chief said.

Though Kumar, who left for Delhi later, did not speak to mediapersons, JD(U) did not take Prasad's invitation to Manjhi kindly.

State JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh told reporters that there was no point taking the name of Manjhi who had relation with BJP.

Bihar JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said, "Manjhi is not in the work list of Janata Party unity process. Nitish Kumar had chosen him for the chair of chief ministership, but he turned out to be a puppet in the hands of BJP."

Brishen Patel, a former minister and now a close aide of Manjhi, thanked lalu Prasad for the invitation.

"But, one thing is crystal clear that Manjhi and his newly floated Hindustani Awam Party (HAM) would not be part of any combination in which Nitish Kumar is a part," said Patel who had been a close associate of Kumar since Samata Party days, but later fell out with him and sided with Manjhi.