Manjhi to fight Bihar, J’khand elections alone
Former Bihar chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (secular) president Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday announced his decision to contest Bihar Assembly elections — slated to be held in 2020 — and Jharkhand polls alone.
His decision has created a flutter in the state politics. Talking to this newspaper, Mr Manjhi said that the decision was taken unanimously during a meeting. “Time has come to expand our political base and contest elections on our own,” Mr Manjhi said.
According to HAM spokesperson Amrendra Tripathi, party leaders have been asked to complete the process of setting up booth-level committees by December 31.
Given the development, political analysts feel that Mr Manjhi may return to the NDA fold. Sources said that he has discussed the issue with BJP’s senior Dalit leader Sanjay Paswan during a meeting on Thursday.
Signs of a rift in the
Opposition alliance had emerged during recentlyconcluded byelections when HAM fielded a candidate against the RJD from Nathnagar seat.
Mr Manjhi has been upset with the RJD leadership, especially Tejashwi Yadav, for not coordinating with partners who had joined the grand alliance before the Lok Sabha elections.
“As a partner in the grand-alliance, we had requested for the formation of a coordination committee but nothing was done. They (RJD) take decisions without consulting other partners. I don’t know what Tejashwi and others would say about it, but I strongly feel that there is a confusion in the grandalliance and we took the decision to save our party’s existence,” HAM chief said.