In year of Bihar polls, NDA ally Jitan Ram Manjhi threatens to give up cabinet berth

Patna: Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi caused a flutter after he threatened to give up his cabinet berth, alleging that his Hindustani Awam Morcha was not getting a square deal in the NDA ahead of the Bihar assembly polls due later this year.

The former Bihar chief minister made the statement on Tuesday at a public meeting in Munger district, where he voiced anguish over his party not being taken into account by the BJP-led coalition in seat-sharing arrangements.

"We got nothing in Jharkhand and Delhi. It may be said that I did not make any demand. But is it justice? I was overlooked because I had no standing in these states. So we must prove our worth in Bihar,” Manjhi said.

Quoting a verse from the Ramayana which implies that often fear begets respect, the 80-year-old leader remarked "it seems I will have to resign from the cabinet".

The temperamental leader also added in the same breath "some may say I am fighting with the NDA. But, the leadership of Narendra Modi has been such that there is no question of a revolt. I am making a plea, not indulging in a confrontation".

Manjhi, who is the lone MP of his party that has four MLAs in the 243-strong assembly, also disclosed that he wanted "40 seats" for the Hindustani Awam Morcha in the Bihar assembly polls.

"If our party returns with a tally of even 20, we will be able to get our demands fulfilled," said the former CM, who insisted that he was not pursuing any personal ambitions but eyeing a better deal for ‘Bhuiyan-Musahar’, a Dalit community to which he belongs.

He also said that the Nitish Kumar government in the state, in which his son Santosh Suman is a minister, "has done many good things" but promises he made to the depressed classes during his less-than-a-year-long tenure as CM were yet to be fulfilled.

This is the second occasion, in the recent past, when Manjhi has made public his dissatisfaction with the NDA. On Sunday, he had said in Jehanabad that his party was "cheated" in Delhi and Jharkhand.

Sources in the NDA made light of the remarks of Manjhi, who had quit the coalition in 2018 and joined the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ helmed by the RJD, only to return a couple of years later.

The sources were also of the view that Manjhi's outbursts stemmed from a feeling that his cabinet colleague Chirag Paswan, another Dalit leader from Bihar who heads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), was stealing the limelight.

Meanwhile, RJD spokesperson Mrityunay Tiwari asked Manjhi to "give up the perks of power" if he seriously felt that Dalits should get a better deal than what the BJP was willing to give them.

"He should join the fight for social justice, which is being spearheaded by our leaders Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav. But, for this churning of which the BJP is always wary, Manjhi would never have been considered for a berth in the Union cabinet,” said Tiwari.