Manjhi may not be as loyal to Nitish as Rabri was to Lalu, but surely is as meek

Mangalore Today News Network

Patna, May 20, 2014:  Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday handpicked the state’s social welfare minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, as his stop-gap successor.

Manjhi, 69 and an unassuming MLA from Makhdumpur reserved seat in Gaya, has been asked to head the government only till the tenure of this assembly. Manjhi had also lost the recently held Lok Sabha election from Gaya.

Nitish Kumar has chosen Manjhi, though he had forced the same man to quit his cabinet in November 2005  - within hours after his induction as a minister - for his alleged involvement in irregular recognition to teachers’ training institutes and non-existent colleges in the 1990s, when he was a minister of state in Rabri Devi’s cabinet.

The then state vigilance department had lodged an FIR in the scam. He was later granted bail in the case.

After his unceremonious exit in November 2005, Manjhi was re-inducted by Nitish in his cabinet in April 2008, after he was cleared of the charges.

A source in the JD-U said Nitish has picked Manjhi because he is the least formidable of the JD-U’s MLAs - someone who cannot even think of usurping Nitish Kumar’s status. "He may not be as loyal as Rabri was to Lalu; but Jitan Ram is surely as meek. He cannot challenge Nitish Kumar in Bihar," said an RJD leader who did not wish to be named.

Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United will face the next assembly polls, scheduled in November 2015, under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.