Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) on June 16 roped in Bhagirath Manjhi, son of Dashrath Manjhi – the ‘Mountain Man’ of Bihar, to the party. Dashrath Manjhi’s son-in-law Mithun Manjhi, too, joined the party in the presence of several senior leaders.
Meanwhile, the State government replaced Santosh Kumar Suman, son of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who resigned from the Cabinet, by inducting Ratnesh Sada. Mr. Sada and Mr. Suman belong to the same community, Mushar.
Party State president Umesh Singh Kushwaha, Rajya Sabha member Bashishtha Narayan Singh, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha, Building Construction Minister Ashok Choudhary, Science and Technology Minister Sumit Singh and Mr. Sada were present in the meeting.
In 2006, Mr. Kumar had offered his Chief Minister chair to Dashrath Manjhi when the latter visited his weekly Janata Durbar.
Speaking on his induction, Bhagirath Manhji said, “It was Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who did everything for my father and gave him due respect.” It is the first time that Bhagirath Manjhi has joined any political party.
Mithun Manjhi too echoed the same and said that before Mr. Kumar nobody respected Mushar community.
Newly appointed Minister Mr. Sada said, “Nitish ji is the real messiah of Dalits. Earlier, people belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities never used to become leaders but Nitish ji gave opportunities to Dalits and Mahadalits of the society and ensured their participation in democracy by giving reservation in Panchayat election.”
Jitan Ram Manjhi, who resigned from the government, will be meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 19 in Delhi a day after holding the national working committee meeting of his party Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) on June 18 in Patna.
It is also expected that before meeting Mr. Shah, he will meet Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to withdraw his support from the Grand Alliance. At present, he has four members in Bihar Legislative Assembly and one member in the Bihar Legislative Council.
