A dinner meeting of over 15 Bihar Ministers on Wednesday has widened the rift between supporters of Nitish Kumar and Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi in the Janata Dal (U). Mr. Manjhi’s supporters were not invited for the meeting held at the house of Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak.
Political circles see the meeting as an attempt by Mr. Kumar to replace Mr. Manjhi with Mr. Rajak, also a Dalit.
Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Shrawan Kumar, P.K. Shahi, Ramdhani Singh, Jai Kumar Singh, Awdhesh Kushwaha, Lesi Singh, Binod Prasad Yadav, Dulal Chand Goswami, Samrat Chaudhary, Ranju Geeta and Shahid Ali Khan were among those attended the meeting.
Recently, when Mr. Kumar visited New Delhi to meet party president Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, Mr. Rajak was summoned there at short notice. However, they later declared that Mr. Manjhi would remain as Chief Minister, and they had not discussed his removal.
However, with the two party spokespersons taking on Mr. Manjhi and some Ministers, the rift between the leaders has come to the fore again. “If they wish to join the BJP, they may do so,” spokesperson Ajay Alok said pointing a finger at Ministers Narendra Singh, Brishen Patel and Nitish Mishra, considered close to Mr. Manjhi. Later, the leaders raised the issue with Mr. Kumar, Mr. Sharad Yadav and JD(U) Bihar chief Basistha Narayan Singh, but the spokespersons stood by their statements.
