Manjhi, Kushwaha, Ram Vilas may not back Nitish govt in Bihar
Patna,(BiharTimes): Everyone in the media is talking that 71+53 is equal to 124 and that means the JD(U) and BJP will be in the majority in the House of 243 in Bihar.
But rarely are people talking about the add-ons: the LJP, RLSP and Hindustani Awam Mocha. They total have five MLAs.
Though they are in the NDA, the Janata Dal (United) sources are not sure about their support.
In fact they fear that in the days to come they may switch over to the RJD side if the BJP joins hands with Nitish Kumar.
True these three parties have only five legislators yet they together enjoy a good percentage of votes––not much less than the JD(U) alone. So the BJP can not afford to lose.
Janata Dal (United) sources are sure that former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the president of HAM, is bound to dissociate himself from any camp in which Nitish Kumar is a partner.
Similar may be the stand of Union minister of state for HRD, Upendra Kushwaha of RLSP.
“They are dead against Nitish. In fact they are now in NDA simply because Nitish is in the Grand Alliance. Jitan Ram Manjhi will not wait a minute. Even Ram Vilas Paswan is uncomfortable and waiting for appropriate time,” a JD(U) national executive member told BiharTimes.
Manjhi’s antipathy for Nitish is well-known. He had repeatedly alleged that Nitish Kumar wanted to use him and rule Bihar from behind by making him the chief minister.
Manjhi, during his tenure as chief minister, repeatedly raised the issue of widespread corruption and a series of mega-scams which was unearthed during the Nitish Kumar rule, but in which no action had been taken.
Once a controversial JD(U) MLA, Anant Singh, said to be close to Nitish then, called Manjhi ‘a pagal mukhiya mantri’ (a mad chief minister).
The BJP is making its calculation before taking any step. After all Dussadhs, Mushars and Koeris––the castes represented by Ram Vilas Paswan, Manjhi and Kushwaha respectively––form over 10 per cent of votes. In any social engineering this is significant.
Besides, analysts say, Nitish has ditched so many people so many times that the saffron party leadership is in no hurry to embrace him once again. They are examining all aspects carefully.
