Brushing aside speculation over replacing Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar on Thursday said there would be no change in the present government. Party president Sharad Yadav too dismissed any change of guard.
Earlier, two days after giving an exclusive interview to The Hindu on Sunday saying that the achievements of his government in social sectors had gone further than Nitish Kumar, Mr. Manjhi had effected a reshuffle of some top bureaucrats, said to be close to his predecessor. This appeared to have triggered speculation over the fate of his government.
Mr. Manjhi had also said in the interview that only a Mahadalit should be the Chief Minister of the State after the upcoming polls. This, as some state JD(U) leaders said, fuelled speculation over the removal of Mr. Manjhi and Mr. Kumar’s visit to Delhi was linked to this.
A JD(U) leader, preferring not to be quoted, said Mr. Manjhi’s reshuffle of top officers and his recent statements had triggered talk over his possible removal. “This issue will certainly figure in the meeting of top leaders in Delhi on Thursday,” he said.
Party Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson K.C. Tyagi too had asserted in Delhi that the fate of Mr. Manjhi would be discussed when RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Sharad Yadav meet. “It is true that these leaders are meeting for the merger plan of Janata parivar but the fate of Mr. Manjhi too will be on the agenda. Nitish Kumar is said to be perturbed over the recent transfers of the bureaucrats,” said another JD(U) leader in Patna, wishing anonymity.
However, before leaving for Delhi, Mr. Kumar while dismissing speculation on removal of Mr. Manjhi said he was nobody to decide on this.
“Who am I to assure you on this… I’m nobody to take a decision on such an issue,” said Mr. Kumar. Mr. Sharad Yadav too told The Hindu that neither the Chief Minister was going to be removed nor he was joining the BJP.
Meanwhile, apparently unfazed by all the speculation, Mr. Manjhi sang an old Bollywood song at a function here. “Sab kuch shikha humne, par na shikhi hoshiyari…sach hai duniyawalon ki hum hai anari (I’ve learnt everything but cleverness… it’s true I’m a novice).
He also asserted that as long as he was CM, he would continue to work for the poor. “As a Chief Minister I am supposed to run the government and Nitish Kumar to look after the affairs of the party and that’s what exactly I’m doing,” he said, while adding that he was not smart enough to speak even what was not true. “But, what I speak unfortunately becomes headlines,” he said.
However, a disgruntled JD(U) leader whose membership recently was reinstated by the Patna High Court, Gyanendra Singh ‘Gyanu’ said that they, a group of over three dozen party MLAs, would support Mr. Manjhi, if attempts were being made to remove him.
“We’ll not let Manjhiji be removed from his post at any cost. We know that Nitish Kumar is impatient to don the mantle himself again but we will all foil his plan,” Gyanendra Singh ‘Gyanu’ told The Hindu while adding that if need be they would even talk to BJP president Amit Shah to support Mr. Manjhi.
