Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s ally and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi reached New Delhi on Thursday where he met the Union home minister Amit Shah.
Following his meeting with Shah which sparked speculation of him joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said he just met the home minister to submit a memorandum.
Meanwhile, the Bihar chief minister, who is also in Delhi, met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders as part of his initiative for stronger opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP.
Jitan Kumar after his meeting with the home minister asserted that he has sworn to remain with Bihar chief minister and rejected any possibility of joining hands with the BJP. He clarified that there was no question of any drift on his part and that Kumar has all the qualities to be the Prime Minister.
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“I have taken a pledge that I will remain with Nitish Kumar wherever he remains. He is making an honest endeavour to unite the opposition to ensure some change in 2024 and he has categorically said that it is immaterial whether he is the PM candidate or somebody else is,” he added.
After his meeting with Shah in the midst of a political turn of events sparked speculations. He said he has sought time to meet Nitish Kumar in Delhi and will talk to him if he gets a chance.
He said he only met Shah to present a memorandum to the home minister regarding the deaths at the Gaya firing range so that there was utmost precaution maintained and ex-gratia was paid to the kin of victims.
Three villagers were killed in the Gaya district after an army mortar shell fell and exploded well outside the firing range on March 8.
“Besides, I demanded that apart from mountain man Late Dashrath Manjhi, former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur and Bihar’s first chief minister Shri Krishna Singh be also considered for the Bharat Ratna Award, as their names have been recommended. I have also presented a book on Laungi Manjhi, who single-handedly carved out a five-km canal in Gaya’s village Kothilawa,” added Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Like Dashrath Manjhi, who worked for 22 years to carve out a path through the hills after his wife fell to death from the hillock, Laungi Manjhi is known for digging a canal with his solo efforts for nearly three decades.
He was part of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which the Janata Dal (United) and the BJP contested together.
