After Manjhi anti-climax, Nitish begins second act: ‘With folded hands, sorry’

Read Also: Manjhi resigns as Bihar CM

Meanwhile, Manjhi’s decision, which came just half an hour before he was supposed to face a floor test in the Assembly, took both opponents and loyalists by surprise. Manjhi had so far maintained that he would prove his majority in the 233-member House.

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Following the resignation, a scheduled speech by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at the start of the Budget Session was cancelled. The House would now be adjourned sine die.

Manjhi’s supporters as well as the BJP had hoped that he would make an impassioned speech in the House, playing the Mahadalit card. At a hurriedly organised press conference at the CM’s House, Manjhi said, “I decided to resign this morning when I saw the seating arrangement in the House, which was sent by the Speaker. Names of some of my MLAs were not on the list and my ministers did not have positions near me. The Speaker did not recognise our chief whip and, surprisingly, the JD(U) was made the main Opposition. I felt my MLAs and I were insulted. We feared the marshals could misbehave with us. Plus I did not want my MLAs, some of them poor, to lose their membership for voting in my favour.”

Sources said 35 marshals were present in the House and 50 had been kept on standby to prevent any trouble. Forty ambulances were also kept on standby.

Manjhi said he had not recommended dissolution of the House, and it was now up to the Governor to take a call.

Sources in the BJP, which had decided to back Manjhi during the floor test, said the party was “let down” by his decision.

Manjhi said that though the Governor had accepted his request for a secret ballot “to save MLAs from harassment”, he had learnt that the Speaker would not allow it. Manjhi also alleged that he and his legislators were being threatened and “some people” had been posted outside the homes of his loyalists to intimidate them. “I still claim the support of 140 MLAs but one would have seen it only in case of secret ballot,” he said.

An MLA from the Manjhi camp claimed the Speaker had listed only 227 MLAs in the sitting arrangement, leaving out Manjhi and five of his ministers.

Manjhi said he had called a meeting on February 28 to discuss possibilities for the future, including floating a new party. Former minister and Manjhi loyalist Nitish Mishra said, “Manjhi is the biggest political factor in Bihar and he can prove to be a turning point.” Another loyalist, Brishen Patel, said there was now a clear division in the JD(U) and Nitish would know his place after the Assembly elections.
Manjhi claimed that some MLAs from the Nitish camp, who wanted to vote for him, had come to the CM’s House late Thursday night. “When the media saw them, they had to cover their faces. Such is the fear of Nitish Kumar,” he said.

He added, “Just when I started working for all sections of society and came out of Nitish’s shadow, he felt uncomfortable. He was jealous of my popularity and his position as supreme JD(U) leader was threatened. For the initial few months of my tenure, I used to get a list on portfolios and postings and I only used to sign.”

He also came out with a list of important decisions taken by his government. “I was the only CM who thought of pension for journalists. I have ended the difference between Dalits and Mahadalits by including Paswans in the Mahadalit category,” he said, adding that the people of Bihar would give a befitting reply to the “insult done to the son of a Dalit”.

BJP state president Mangal Pandey, meanwhile, said, “It is Manjhi’s decision. As for us, we stood by him to uphold Dalit pride.” BJP legislature party leader Sushil Kumar Modi, too, questioned the Speaker’s seating arrangement.

Nitish, meanwhile, accused the BJP of overplaying the “Mahadalit insult factor”.”It is a wrong and dangerous practice to associate persons occupying high offices with their castes. A CM is a CM. Since BJP has raised it, I want to ask if attacking the Speaker over his decisions is not an attack on a Mahadalit leader,” said Nitish, adding, “It was I who coined the term ‘Mahadalit’ to lend special packages to some social groups. Now, with the recent cabinet decisions, that distinction is over.”