Bihar: Ex-CM Manjhi may leave coalition after RJD refuses to form coordination committee

Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi is all set to leave the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and join hands with the NDA for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls. A decision to this effect is likely to be taken on July 10 in a meeting of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) core group. Jitan Ram Manjhi has been demanding the formation of the coordination committee of the parties associated with Mahagathbandhan to formalise the seat-sharing arrangement and also to announce the Chief Ministerial candidate.

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'Anybody is free to take any decision'

Manjhi had earlier set a deadline of July 25 to form the coordination committee, saying he would decide his future political course otherwise. He even went on to say that Tejashwi is not the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Mahgathbandhan, a sentiment which was even echoed by Bihar Congress incharge Shakti Singh Gohil.

HAM(S) Party Spokesperson Danish Rizwan said, "Our deadline for the formation of coordination committee is over and we have authorised the party president to decide the future political course of action for which the core committee will meet on July 10."

HAM(S) has one member each in the Bihar Legislative Council and the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Manjhi had contested the 2015 assembly election as a part of the NDA but switched sides to the Mahagathbandhan to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. RJD believes that Manjhi has no major impact in elections as he has failed to transfer the votes of his community both to the NDA and Mahagathbandhan.

Bihar state RJD President Jagdanand Singh said, "Coordination committee is formed to run the government, not the alliance. Even the NDA does not have any coordination committee. Anybody is free to take any decision. RJD is a bigger party in the alliance and it has 80 MLAs. "

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Sources say that Jitan Ram Manjhi has met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on a couple of occasions, but the Bihar CM has asked him to merge his party with the JDU and set no preconditions. Manjhi was earlier in the JDU and Nitish Kumar made him the CM of Bihar after the party received a severe drubbing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In February 2015, Manjhi had a fall out with his mentor Nitish Kumar and was overthrown as CM of Bihar. Later, Manjhi formed his own party HAM(S) and joined hands with NDA. 

Of late, LJP chief Chirag Paswan has been at loggerheads with Bihar CM and been critical of the functioning of the Nitish Kumar government. Chirag has been mounting pressure on the BJP and the JDU for 43 seats in the Bihar assembly polls. The antagonistic attitude of Chirag Paswan towards the Bihar government has upset Nitish Kumar to an extent that the Bihar CM is in no mood to spare more than 20 assembly seats for the LJP. Looking at Chirag Paswan's recent outburst, Nitish Kumar is getting closer to Jitan Ram Manjhi, another Dalit leader in order to consolidate Mahadalit vote bank and marginalise the ambitious LJP.

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