JD(U) fears President’s rule in Bihar as Jitan Ram Manjhi meets Rajnath Singh, governor

PATNA: Former Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday alleged that chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's meeting with the governor as well as the Union home minister signaled the BJP's strategy of disrupting the house proceedings on February 20 before the trust vote so that President's rule could be imposed on the state.

JD(U) secretary general KC Tyagi said the governor, Keshari Nath Tripathi, was violating the constitutional provisions and has a history of controversial ruling as speaker in the Uttar Pradesh assembly. Kumar warned the BJP of a backlash in the assembly elections due in October-November.

JD(U) and its friendly parties also accused Tripathi of acting like a BJP activist and sending Bihar into a political and financial crisis to facilitate Central rule.

What appears to have unnerved the Nitish Kumar camp is that the CM held two cabinet meetings this week and brought Paswans (Dusadh) under the mahadalit umbrella, besides creating quota for the SCs/STs in certain categories of government contracts.

Since Kumar had left Paswans out of the mahadalit fold out of political rivalry, as alleged by LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, Manjhi's move is seen as a step towards broadening his own base among the mahadalits.

The anti-Manjhi protesters also fear the CM may get more largesse approved in the next cabinet meeting before the February 20 trust vote. Speculation is rife that Manjhi may get cabinet's approval of his announcements made this week that his government intended to regularize over three lakh teachers and 3,000 nurses on contract, besides taking over unaided schools and colleges in Bihar.

The JD(U) said Manjhi's unconstitutional actions will extract a huge financial cost that the next government would find it difficult to cough up. It would, the party said, need more than Rs 50,000 crore annually to implement Manjhi's policy decisions.