Jitan Manjhi was always a BJP man, break up with Nitish was inevitable

What was seen as a master stroke from Nitish Kumar nine months ago has turned into a politically suicidal decision.

But to those who have been following the life and career of Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, his latest moves, particularly his closeness to the BJP, come as no surprise. To political analysts, the Manjhi-Nitish break up, was always expected as the relationship was based on compulsion and not choice.

“Since 1991 Jitan Ram Manjhi has been friendly towards the BJP. During the 1991 by-election for the Gaya parliamentary seat, most of the BJP supporters voted for Manjhi, who was then a Congress candidate. This resulted in the official BJP candidate Nagia Devi, wife of three- time MP Ishwar Chaudhary, losing her security deposit,” said Ali Hussain, who teaches political science at Magadh University.

Moreover, Manjhi, according to activist Bhagwan Bhaskar, ‘donated’ his elder son to the Sangh Parivar which was a good arrangement during the BJP-JD (U) coalition era. Even as late as the 2014 parliamentary election, Manjhi acknowledged his son’s BJP membership and attributed it to the internal democracy of his family.

“Making Manjhi the chief minister was Nitish Kumar’s studied move to be the de facto CM since Nitish is never known to have acknowledged Manjhi, either as a capable administrator or a popular leader. It was only the pliability factor which worked in Manjhi’s favour as it was understood that Nitish would nominate a mahadalit as his successor,” said a party insider on condition of anonymity.

Ali Anwar, Rajya Sabha MP from JD(U) and a close aide of Nitish Kumar, believes that Manjhi’s proximity to the BJP and PM Modi developed after he met the PM in New Delhi demanding special status for Bihar.

“Special status couldn’t be granted to Bihar but Manjhi became Modi’s favourite and his political gimmicks started right after that. His every statement was meant to benefit the saffron party and it dented the credibility of the government.” said Anwar. He also alleged that Amit Shah told Manjhi that if he could break away 30 MLAs from the ruling coalition and help the BJP form the government in the state, he could be appointed the chief minister.

The unprecedented and still unfolding political developments in the state, has put the constitutional expertise and political acumen of Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to test.

Governor Tripathi finds himself in a somewhat unenviable position as Manjhi lost his moral right to rule the state the moment 97 of the 111 strong JD (U) legislature party showed him the exit door. Manjhi, on his part, is unlikely to make things easy for the Governor by voluntarily relinquishing the post, thereby forcing the Governor to take some action that may be unpalatable.

There is near unanimity among constitutional experts in the matter that with nearly two-third members of the council of ministers disapproving the proposal to authorise the CM to recommend the assembly’s dissolution, it would be improper for the Governor to act on the advice of a chief minister, who, by all indications has lost the confidence of the lower house of the state legislature.

According to Patna High Court senior lawyer Rajindra Singh, the Governor has no option other than to direct Manjhi to prove his majority in the assembly.