Nitish meets Mulayam on differences over Manjhi

New Delhi, May 23

After keeping away from a crucial meeting yesterday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today met SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and raised objections to RJD head Lalu Prasad’s idea of bringing Jitan Ram Manjhi in their alliance, an issue that threatens to derail the grouping.

Sources said the JD(U) leader, who was joined by party president Sharad Yadav, made it clear that Prasad’s statement did no good to the prospects of their alliance for the Assembly elections due in September-October this year.

He suggested that both parties form a committee to thrash out an agreement over seat-sharing in Bihar.

Though there is no clarity on the issue of merger of six Janata Parivar parties, which was announced last month, sources said its prospect remained bleak and the most feasible course ahead could be a tie up between two Bihar outfits.

Kumar had skipped the meeting yesterday which Sharad Yadav, Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav had attended and where Prasad formally broached the idea of bringing Manjhi onboard.

The Bihar Chief Minister wants no truck with Manjhi, his former protégé who has turned against him after he was removed as the state chief minister.

After joining hands to take on BJP following their rout in the Lok Sabha election, Kumar and Prasad have drifted over their competing claims on the number of seats they would fight.

Though the Nitish Kumar government is surviving on the RJD prop in Bihar, Prasad has consistently refused to project him as the future chief minister.

JD(U), on the other hand, wants him to back Kumar as the chief ministerial face of the alliance or the merged entity, whichever shape their union takes.

Prasad, against whom Kumar waged long political battle, believes that projecting his one-time foe as the chief ministerial candidate would only harm his party which has a much larger vote base in the state, RJD sources claimed. — PTI