Bihar: Manjhi should be CM candidate, not Nitish, says rebel JDU MLA

New Delhi: Sparking speculation about a possible split in the Janata Dal United (JDU), rebel MLA Gyanendra Singh met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday. Gyanendra Singh has expressed his wish that Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi should be the CM candidate in the upcoming Assembly polls instead of party chief Nitish Kumar.
Gyanendra Singh who has been a close aide of Nitish Kumar said, “We are more than 2 dozens MLA’s together who are in support of this decision. Manjhi was made the CM and it was put in the Assembly that he was given the post only temporarily and that the next elections will be contested by Nitish Kumar,” he complained.
He also said that the move will be against maha dalits. “We think this does not give the maha dalits any justice. You make them the CM, and I think he deserves it. The next elections must be contested by Manjhi and not Nitish Kumar,” he said adding that if a mahadalit CM is removed just before the elections, no mahadalit will vote for JDU.He also said that the party’s step to join hands with Lalu Prasad’s RJD will “accelerate the doomsday for JDU.”