Source – ndtv.com
Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today backtracked from his statement that his party Hindustani Awam Morcha would pull out of the five-party Grand Alliance in Bihar.
Mr Manjhi, however, said that a committee should be formed for taking decisions regarding the Grand Alliance and for better coordination among its partners.
“I never said my party will come out of the Grand Alliance. We will remain a part of it. But, I firmly spoke about the formation of a coordination committee for taking decisions of the alliance.”
Mr Manjhi had earlier said his party would go alone in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, where it has not contested any poll so far. He also announced that his party will field candidates in all the 243 Assembly segments of Bihar for elections next year.
“I had joined the Grand Alliance on the condition that there will be a coordination committee and every decision of alliance will be taken through the committee alone,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Asked whether he would suggest Tejashwi Yadav for constituting the coordination committee, Mr Manjhi said he had spoken to him and his father Lalu Prasad Yadav about it on several occasions.
“If the Grand Alliance leaders think that Jitan Ram Manjhi has no role to play in the alliance, then it is alright. I will remain in the alliance and continue politics,” he said.
Mr Manjhi asserted that if the alliance wants to defeat the NDA, then it has to be strengthened, for which a coordination committee is a must.
“We can fight Nitish Kumar and defeat the NDA only through the coordination committee. But, if any party leader shows reluctance in forming such committee, then I will consider him as a supporter of NDA,” he said.