Manjhi continues to hurl barbs at Nitish

Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi criticized current CM Nitish Kumar on Nehru's birth anniversary, urging Rahul Gandhi not to meet Kumar. Manjhi also accused Kumar of losing "mental balance" and said he will stage a dharna in Delhi after the Chhath festivities. Kumar responded to journalists' questions by bending and folding his hands before leaving the scene.

Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi continued his attack on incumbent CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday on the occasion of Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary.

Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi during a protest in Patna against chief minister Nitish Kumar's recent remarks against him. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

Manjhi, who had started his political career with the Congress in the 1980s, and changed parties several times before floating Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) eight years ago, came out with a message on X (formerly Twitter), tagging Rahul Gandhi.

“Hundreds of salutations to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary. Rahul Gandhi is requested never to meet, on this date, Nitish Kumar who may end up celebrating his, rather than Nehru’s, birth anniversary,” Manjhi wrote in Hindi.

He concluded his jibe with a reminder of the “kaand” (scandal) around “late Mahavir Choudhary”.

Choudhary, who had been a minister in many Congress governments in the state, was the father of Ashok Choudhary, a former state unit chief who joined CM Kumar’s JD(U) in 2018 and has been a member of his cabinet.

Manjhi’s allusion was to the late Congress leader’s birth anniversary function held recently of which a video footage has gone viral on social media. In the footage, Nitish Kumar can be seen picking up a handful of flower petals and sprinkling these on the head of his minister, unlike other dignitaries who paid floral tributes to the late leader’s portrait.

Manjhi, who has been alleging that Kumar, a few years his junior, has lost “mental balance”, repeated the allegation when he reached the Patna High Court premises to stage a dharna in front of a statue of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

The HAM chief, who realigned with NDA a few months ago, was accompanied by senior BJP leaders like state president Samrat Choudhary and leader of the opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha.

The septuagenarian complained that “gates were not opened to enable us to offer our tributes to Ambedkar. Nonetheless, we did so from the outside. I am senior to Nitish Kumar in terms of age and political experience. Yet, he addressed me with the disrespectful pronoun ‘tum’ inside the assembly last week”.

Manjhi also said, “He mocked me, saying I was senseless. He also turned towards the media gallery admonishing you journalists for giving coverage to me. I have opened a front against Nitish Kumar and after the Chhath festivities I will stage a similar dharna in Delhi”.

“My next dharna will be at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi in Raj Ghat. Bihar needs to be rid of a chief minister who is not mentally sound. If needed, we will explore legal steps,” said Manjhi, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, journalists were flustered by Kumar’s response when they asked him why he had been refusing to interact with the media of late.

There was a function organised on the occasion of Nehru’s anniversary where, in response to media personnel’s queries, the CM bent at his hips and folded his hands before rushing to his car.