New Delhi: Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday expressed reservation over Rashtriya Janata Dal's assertion that it being the largest party in the state would have its chief ministerial candidate for the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance).
Jitan Ram Manjhi, former Bihar chief minister Manjhi, whose Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) is a constituent of the five-party grand alliance, demanded that a coordination committee be formed to decide the chief ministerial candidate for the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections.
Interacting with ETV Bharat here, he said such statements by the RJD were a cause of concern for the grand alliance.
"It could be a problem for the alliance as a whole. What I want is a coordination committee that could look into the issues like these," he said.
RJD, a few days ago, unilaterally declaring party supremo Lalu Prasad as the coordinator of the Mahagathbandhan for the upcoming elections has also created a rift within the alliance. It has also been asserting for the past few days that there would be no coordination committee for the grand alliance partners. The RJD is a major party in Bihar and Tejashwi Yadav should be accepted as its leader.
On being asked if the RJD does not budge and decides to go all alone in the elections, Manjhi said, in that case, the grand alliance would be reworked.
"In case Lalu Prasad wants us to redo the grand alliance, we would do it but this attitude of RJD would certainly hit the Mahagathbandhan," he said.
In the 2015 state assembly elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD, allies back then, contested 101 seats each while the Congress fought in 41.
Also, read: NDA govt ruining the economy: Gehlot
