Santosh Majhi, the son of former Bihar Chief Minister and HAM (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, on Tuesday resigned from the Nitish Kumar-led cabinet. Manjhi, who served as the Minister for SC/ST Welfare Department in the Bihar government, has said that his father was being pressured by Nitish to merge his party with the Janata Dal (united), TV reports claimed.
Speaking to a news channel following his resignation, Manjhi confirmed that the party has rejected a proposal from the JD(U) asking it to merge with it.
“Our party has been formed on the basis of certain issues. It was better for us to choose the oath of struggle, which is why we decided to reject the proposal to merge our party with the JD(U),” Manjhi told ABP News after sending his resignation to CM Nitish Kumar.
The BJP, quick to jump on the resignation, dubbed the development as an indication of the neglect that Dalits were facing under the rule of the Mahagathbandhan government. BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok said that Manjhi’s resignation showed that the Mahagathbandhan was imploding from within.
“The day is not far when the entire Mahagathbandhan will dump Nitish Kumar altogether,” Ajay Alok said.
Manjhi’s resignation comes as a setback for the Mahagathbandhan which is trying to pitch the idea of a united opposition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre on a national level. On June 24, Nitish Kumar is set to chair a meeting of several Opposition parties in Patna, the first such meeting ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.