Patna,(BiharTimes): The dinner hosted by Arun Manjhi, a Janata Dal (United) MLA close to Jitan Ram Manjhi, for all the Dalit legislators of the ruling party on Thursday night, took an interesting turn by the time all was over.

Reports suggest that the Nitish Kumar camp brought about a coup of a sort when Arun, at the end of the dinner, ended up stating before the media that “Nitish Kumar is our leader”. Political observers are interpreting this development as a sort of victory for the Nitish camp.

Arun Manjhi initially ducked all the questions about the dinner by stating that it has been thrown simply because he had shifted to a new house and that no political meaning should be attached to it.On being asked further why only the dinner party is exclusively for Dalit or Mahadalit legislators and why not even Jitan Ram Manjhi, also a Mahadalit, and Nitish Kumar were invited he replied that they would be requested to come on a later date.

Prominent Mahadalit faces of the Nitish Kumar camp––food minister Shyam Rajak and state Assembly Speaker, Uday Narayan Chaudhary–– were also present in the get together.However, in the beginning they too avoided getting involved in the politics. Many mediapersons thought that they would leave after taking the dinner as it is the show of the Jitan Ram Manjhi camp.

When Shyam Rajak was asked about the dinner parties being hosted by various JD(U) leaders, including him, he just said: “Dalit aur Mahadalit khane ke liye ne hain. Hum log to thik se khaya nahin na tha.” (We Dalits and Mahadalits are to eat. We have not eaten much). He ducked further questions by stating that the dishes are quite delicious.

But it was after the dinner that the scene started changing. Rajak was reportedly instrumental in convincing all the legislators of the Manjhi camp to repose full faith in the leadership of Nitish Kumar. It was only after this meeting that Arun Manjhi spoke about his loyalty to Nitish Kumar.This would be considered as a setback to chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has been trying to assert himself. Even on Thursday he made a similar assertion at a function in Daudnagar in Aurangabad district.

After the dinners at the house of Shyam Rajak and Jay Kumar Singh, two ministers close to the Nitish Kumar camp, the get-together at Arun Manjhi’s place was third such exercise within 10 days.