New Delhi: Responding to former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s remark who alleged his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) decided to quit the Mahagathbandhan since the government was not working on development of the state, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said he respects Manjhi but everyone knows the kind of work the Bihar government has done so far.
Earlier in the day, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said after giving it serious thoughts his son decided to resign from the cabinet and his party is out of the Mahagathbandhan. He further alleged that when they tried to discuss the issues ailing the development of Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar had said they either merge their party with JD(U) or quit.
“We saw him for so many days and then decided that now we have to leave. It was the voice of the people. We shared our views with Nitish Kumar, he said either join our party or leave. Be it Lalan Singh, Tejashwi Yadav or Nitish Kumar, I have no personal problem with anyone but will not compromise with public interest,” news agency ANI quoted Jitan Ram Manjhi as saying.
Reacting to his allegations, Yadav said, “He is our senior, he can say anything. We respect him, but everyone knows what kind of work our government has done for the development of the state.”
This comes a day after Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Manjhi said that the existence of his party was in danger and that is why he resigned as the cabinet minister of the Bihar government.
"In Mahagathbandhan, we considered Nitish Kumar as our leader and we still consider him one. But for the past few days, a proposal for a merger of the party was being put before us...This is not a unilateral decision by me. This was decided after meeting with and talking to everyone..," said Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Santosh Kumar Suman.