Patna,(BiharTimes): The Janata Dal (United) spokesman, Neeraj Kumar, on Saturday came down strongly on his own party chief minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, for meeting former MP, Sadhu Yadav, who is now considered close to the BJP.

Incidentally, the chief minister went to Sadhu’s house a couple of days ahead of his likely meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.Criticizing the meeting the JD(U) spokesman, who is considered too close to former CM Nitish Kumar, questioned as to how can Manjhi meet Sadhu who had been a symbol of ‘aatank’ (terror) and ‘bhay’ (fear).

Reminding the chief minister that he is holding a constitutional post Neeraj said that he should rule the state rather than indulge in politics. The spokesman said that this is the position of his party.Neeraj recalled the proximity between Sadhu Yadav and Narendra Modi and said as to how the latter greeted him when he paid a visit to Gujarat a few months before the last Lok Sabha election. He also said that then the BJP people were all praise for the same Sadhu.

Manjhi went to Sadhu’s house on Friday on the plea of attending ‘chura-dahi’ party though Makar Sankranti passed two days earlier. So it was a political move and is causing a lot of discomfort within the JD(U) camp, The state BJP had already announced that it had kept all it options open for Manjhi.What is strange is that Manjhi did not deem it fit to call on ailing Nitish Kumar, while leaders of other parties, including Lalu Prasad and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, met him on January 14 after the feast hosted by the state JD(U) chief Vashistha Narayan Singh.

This is the second time in quick succession that any JD(U) leader close to Nitish has attacked Manjhi. Only a few days back parliamentary affairs minister Shrawan Kumar strongly flayed his own CM for frequently changing his statement. However, a day later he apologized.