Patna: HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday sought to rebut Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s sensational allegation that he could play a role of a spy by passing on the strategy of opposition leaders during the meeting here on June 23 to the BJP, saying that “spying is not in his blood”.
“If Nitish Kumar has any proof about me, then he should disclose it in the public domain. We do not have such blood or nature to do spying and pass the messages from one place to another,” Manjhi said while interacting with media persons in Gaya.
“The real truth was Nitish Kumar applying pressure on me to merge Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) in the JD-U or leave the Mahagathbandhan. We have chosen the second option and separated from Mahagathbandhan to secure our existence,” he added.
Attacking Nitish Kumar, Manjhi said: “Nitish Kumar is saying the BJP is not a good party. I want to ask him if he has not formed the government with the help of the BJP. I want to forecast to the people of Bihar that Nitish Kumar would not make Tejashwi Yadav a Chief Minister of Bihar. He is just showing a lollipop to Tejashwi Yadav. In a bid to secure the CM’s chair, he sometimes went to the BJP and sometimes the RJD. He will go with the BJP in future again.”
“We have a small but democratic party and we have called for the national executive committee meeting on June 19 to decide the future plan of action. We will not hesitate to make an alliance with another party,” Manjhi said while hinting towards the option open to shake hands with BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Manjhi also attacked the Nitish Kumar government on implementation of liquor ban in Bihar, claiming that it is only for the poor people while police do not do breathanalysis of the rich.
Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar alleged that Manjhi may have turned as a spy for the BJP.
“Manjhi was in touch with Amit Shah and BJP leaders and he was wanting for the invitation to participate in a mega meeting of opposition parties scheduled to be held in Patna on June 23. If he would be in the meeting, whatever our strategy we would make in it, would be compromised. Jitan Ram Manjhi may have passed our strategy to BJP leaders and foiled our plans. Hence, we have strictly asked him to merge his party in the JD-U or leave the Mahagathbandhan. He has left us and we have accepted the resignation of his son,” Kumar said after the swearing in ceremony of Ratnesh Sada in Raj Bhavan to fill the vacancy caused by HAM leader Santosh Suman resigning as minister.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Neha Khan | 
