Jitan Manjhi vents spleen against Nitish, lauds PM Modi

Patna: Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Saturday vented spleen against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a former benefactor with whom he has a love-hate relationship.

Manjhi, who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), was addressing a function of the party he had floated in 2015, quitting the JD(U) in protest against the pressure to step down as chief minister to enable the return of Kumar.

"I was mocked by Nitish Kumar when I had formed the party. He was of the view that I would not be able to run an outfit as I did not have financial support. Years down the line, we seem to be going from strength to strength", said the 79-year-old Gaya MP, who recently won his first parliamentary election.

Manjhi, who briefly realigned with Kumar in 2020, securing a ministerial berth for his son Santosh Suman, also recalled his fallout with the JD(U) supremo last year, when the Bihar CM was busy bringing together anti-BJP parties which culminated in the formation of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

"I was asked by Nitish Kumar to merge my party with JD(U) or leave", recalled Manjhi, who had followed the JD(U) boss in quitting NDA and later joining the NDA, a step that enabled Suman to seamlessly retain the ministerial berth.

The HAM chief, whose son had resigned from the state cabinet in protest against the pressure to merge, pointed out that "not a single worker of our party had been in favour of a merger. We took the decision to part ways after consulting all".

Manjhi also thanked "the NDA, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi" for backing his son's return to the cabinet, when Kumar did another volte-face and realigned with BJP.

He also expressed gratitude to allies for enabling Suman to get re-elected to the legislative council earlier this year, which was required for his son to continue as minister.

In the 243-strong assembly in Bihar, HAM has only three members. Manjhi recently resigned his Imamganj seat on account of becoming a Lok Sabha member.