Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi defends tie up with Lalu Prasad, blunts BJP 'jungle raj' barb

MOTIHARI: With the BJP accusing JD(U) of a return to "jungle raj" by joining hands with RJD, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today came in defence of Lalu Prasad and said "everybody corrects mistakes with time."

"Everybody has some lacunae which is corrected with time...its wrong to say 'jungle raj'," Manjhi said.

"We were part of the same family earlier but separated due to some reason and now have returned to the family," he said justifying the alliance between JD(U), RJD and Congress for bypoll on 10 Assembly seats on August 21.

"What was yesterday is not today and what is today will not be there tomorrow...time is progressive," Manjhi said.

He said the alliance was the need of the time and claimed that BJP has been weakened due to it and it was because of this that the saffron party leaders were making "unsubstantiated" allegations.

Manjhi made a scathing attack on the BJP government at the Centre for ignoring the state's demand for special category status which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised during election campaign.

The CM, who stayed at Motihari at night after returning from Madhubani, blamed the Railways for the tragic accident at Semra railway station in East Champaran which claimed 20 lives yesterday.

It was a manned crossing and the accident took place due to negligence of the Railway staff, he said.