PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday assailed his former mentor Nitish Kumar saying that the latter had committed a ‘mahagalti’( major mistake)by nominating him as Chief Minister. “Perhaps he failed to assess me and assumed that I would be a ‘rubber stamp’ Chief minister,” Manjhi told a news conference.
Asserting his strong political background, Manjhi said that he had been in politics for the last 34 years and held several key positions.
“The first two months I used to heed his diktats but later when I had some selfrespect, I started working independently” he said.
Justifying his work for Dalits, Manjhi said that he didn’t find anything wrong in working for them and in a way tried to consolidate the huge vote share (about 22 per cent) in favour of the JD(U).
Manjhi noted that the trouble started when he launched a crackdown on middlemen in different ministries, who used to “swallow” a large chunk of money set aside for development.
“They ganged up against me and put pressure on Nitish to act against me,” he said.
Meanwhile senior BJP leader Sushil Modi sought a secret ballot on the floor of House when Manjhi Government would seek the trust vote on February 20.
Manjhi also voiced serious doubts on the Speaker’s objectivity and alleged that he (speaker) was biased in favour of Nitish.Meanwhile, Manjhi camp may move a resolution to remove the Speaker before the vote of confidence on the opening day of the Assembly.
“I will enter the ring as a ‘pahalwan’ (wrestler) without bothering how strong the opponent is and whether I will win or lose,” he added.