Backed by the Hindustani Awam Morcha, which he launched recently, Jitan Ram Manjhi is gearing up to take on Nitish Kumar by “exposing his real face” through public meetings across Bihar. He has also been taking tips from political heavy weights such as Jagannath Mishra and Shivanand Tiwari.
On March 9, Mr. Manjhi and Morcha leaders will observe a fast on the Gandhi Maidan here to protest the cancellation by Mr. Nitish Kumar of 33 decisions taken by his government. “We’ll tell the people how anti-poor the Nitish government has become,” Brishen Patel, former minister and Manjhi loyalist told The Hindu .
Mr. Manjhi will begin his month-long series of public meetings from Muzaffarpur on March 16. He, along with prominent HAM leaders, would travel across the State to challenge Nitish Kumar.
“Before that, we’ll organise meetings of our party leaders at the divisional level, and we’ve already started the process,” said Brishen Patel, a Manjhi loyalist and former minister. The campaign would culminate in a rally in Patna on April 17-18.
Morcha leaders told TheHindu that they were considering various options on pre- or post-poll alliances. It is also said that they might put up candidates on all 243 assembly seats during polls, due later this year “to make the Bihar election multi-cornered”. “Whatever be our future course, we will challenge Mr. Nitish Kumar and expose him and his arrogance everywhere,” said a leader.
Political observers say the Morcha could affect the prospects of the ruling JD(U) in many seats.
