The Janata Dal (United) leadership’s inability to keep Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi in check is delaying the merger moves in the Janata Parivar.
If one section within the JD(U) admits that until it sorts out the issue, it will not be able to move on the merger issue, another feels that once the merger takes place, the new party will be in a better position to tackle Mr. Manjhi and his growing ambitions.
On January 15, JD (U) president Sharad Yadav, former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal boss Lalu Prasad Yadav met Mr. Manjhi in Patna to impress upon him the need to be careful about what he said in public, as his statements were only strengthening the BJP that hopes to replace the JD(U) government after the Assembly elections slated for the end of the year.
Party sources said Mr. Manjhi was told that as one who was in the driver’s seat, he should be sensitive to the feelings of all communities. He would lead the government, he was told, while Mr. Kumar and Mr. Lalu Prasad would run the political campaign.
Subsequently, senior leaders conveyed the message privately and publicly that “removing Mr. Manjhi is not on the party’s agenda.”
But Mr. Manjhi, knowing that he can play the mahadalit card since he belongs to the moosahar community, remains unrepentant.
On Tuesday, the Chief Minister had a lengthy meeting with the BJP’s Ramkripal Yadav, a Central Minister and a former lieutenant of Mr. Lalu Prasad, cocking a snook at the party leadership — an episode that came close on the heels of his discussions with Sadhu Yadav, the controversial, estranged brother-in-law of the RJD leader.
All this after he transferred several senior IAS officials, including Principal Home Secretary Amir Subhani who had been appointed during Mr. Kumar’s chief ministership, and posted SC/ST officials in their place.
A senior JD (U) functionary said on Thursday: “Manjhi is not just making statements that are helping the BJP but is openly hobnobbing with BJP leaders. The longer we allow this, the more it will damage us. We need to form the new party swiftly and drop him, so that the elections can be fought under Nitish Kumar.”
Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi recently hinted that the BJP might back Mr. Manjhi if he was removed as CM.
It was against this backdrop that over a dozen pro-Nitish Ministers met at the residence of a senior Minister in Patna on Wednesday signalling that all was not well in the government. They met at Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shyam Rajak’s home for dinner.
Clearly, the JD (U) leadership will have to think of a new strategy to deal with Mr. Manjhi, or cut its losses by replacing him.
