Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday claimed that “poisonous substances” were being mixed in the food of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by his close associates to dethrone him from the chair.
Mr. Manjhi’s startling statement came a day after Mr. Kumar had lost his cool against him for doubting the veracity of the caste-based survey report.
On Thursday, Mr. Kumar screamed at Mr. Manjhi and stated that it was due to his stupidity that the founder of HAM(S) was made the Chief Minister of the State back in 2014. Mr. Manjhi said he felt pained at being called in singular term by Mr. Kumar during the tirade in the Assembly as he is a senior to Mr. Kumar in both age and political career.
“He [Mr. Kumar] is 74 years old and I am 80 years old, he became MLA in 1985 and I became MLA in 1980. He should have not used words like Tum-Taam [you] while referring to me. I want to emphasise that poisonous substances were being mixed in the food of Nitish Kumar to make someone else the Chief Minister as soon as possible. This is a conspiracy of someone and it is evident from several incidents that have happened in the past few days, “Mr. Manjhi said at outside the Assembly premises on the last day of the Winter Session.
Accompanied by Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, he further said: “Instead of offering flowers on the photo of [former minister] late Mahavir Choudhary, he showered the flower petals on a portrait of his son [incumbent minister in Bihar Cabinet] Ashok Choudhary who is alive. Similarly, the kind of language he used against women with regard to population control and third the choice of words uttered against me.”
On November 7, after the Bill to raise reservation in education and government jobs was tabled in the Assembly, Mr. Kumar had courted controversy on the floor of the House with his remark on the role of women in population control. The Opposition legislators demanded his resignation and a complaint was filed against him in Muzaffarpur. Later, he apologised and said he took back his words.
Mr. Manjhi did not spare Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary and held him equally responsible for the situation.
“The custodian of the Assembly is the Speaker and on his permission, I was speaking but Nitish Kumar interrupted me abruptly and started speaking. The Speaker should have stopped him and should have protected a former CM but he did do anything as such. It seems that the Speaker is giving all the decisions in the favour of the ruling party which is dangerous for democracy and the Constitution. So, I want to stress that the CM is responsible but the Speaker is equally responsible because he did not allow a Scheduled Caste leader to express his words in the Assembly,” Mr. Manjhi said.
Before the House convened, Mr. Manjhi sat on a dharna outside the chamber of the Assembly Speaker demanding the resignation of Mr. Kumar by calling him anti-women and anti-Scheduled Caste. He also called the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government as “a murderer of democracy”.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha demanded a high-level inquiry into the alleged poisonous substances row. The BJP leader accused Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav of hatching a conspiracy to dethrone Mr. Kumar so that he could grab the Chief Minister’s post.
