Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Gayaji: Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday asserted that the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar presented his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) with a "do or die" situation.
Talking to reporters in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gaya, Manjhi disclosed that he felt "humiliated" over "recognised party" status eluding HAM even after a decade of inception.
"To get the status, my party needs to win at least eight seats in the Vidhan Sabha. Or, we should poll six per cent of the total votes", said the 80-year-old leader.
"We can achieve the goal in two ways. We may contest at least 15 seats as an NDA constituent and, even with a strike rate of not more than 50 per cent, win the requisite number. The other way is to field candidates in 50-100 seats. We may then poll about 10,000 votes in all of these and garner the required vote share", said Manjhi.
Incidentally, at the party's national executive held in Delhi recently, Manjhi had caused a flutter by stating that HAM could fight "all 243 seats".
He, however, backtracked when journalists approached him with queries back home and clarified that it was a rhetoric he had resorted to in order to enthuse his cadres.
Manjhi had floated the party in 2015 when he split the JD(U) in protest against the pressure from Nitish Kumar to step down as Chief Minister of Bihar in order to facilitate the latter's return.
When asked if he has made up his mind as to how HAM could get the desired outcome in the upcoming polls, he replied evasively, "If I am authorised by the party to take a decision, I will certainly do the needful. I am not the national president. The post is held by Santosh Kumar Suman".
Suman is Manjhi's son and a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. While Suman is a member of the state legislative council, his wife Deepa and mother-in-law Jyoti Devi are members of the assembly.
"The upcoming assembly polls present us with a do-or-die situation. I feel humiliated that even after 10 years, my party still falls under the category of registered but unrecognised", said Manjhi.