BJP starts Bihar campaign, gets Manjhi as ally

The BJP began its full-scale preparation for the high-stakes Bihar assembly elections on Thursday by formally tying up with former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

In This Pic : Jitan Ram Manjhi, Amit Shah

Pic Courtesy : PTI

Read More

Manjhi, who has vowed to work for the defeat of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, is expected to add sections of scheduled castes to the social coalition BJP is seeking to engineer to overwhelm the JD(U)-RJD alliance.

In This Pic : Ram Vilas Paswan

Pic Courtesy : PTI

Read More

Manjhi, a mahadalit, announced the tie-up with BJP after his meeting with party chief Amit Shah at his residence here on Thursday and said that the purpose for the alliance was to defeat the "unholy" alliance of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.

In This Pic : Jitan Ram Manjhi

Pic Courtesy : BCCL - Non Copyright

Read More

Manjhi who, boosted by the sympathy for being unceremoniously sacked as CM at Nitish's instance, has evolved into a leader of sections of SCs had tried to drive hard bargain with BJP and Lalu Prasad, his other suitor. However, Lalu's alliance with Nitish and the fact that Manjhi is in no mood to forgive Bihar CM yet for having dumped him, smoothened matters for BJP.

In This Pic : Jitan Ram Manjhi

Pic Courtesy : PTI

Read More

The two sides are expected to take up the issue of seat-sharing after the BJP parliamentary board completes the formality of approving the pact, but there are clear indications that Manjhi will have to scale down his demand for 60 of the 243 seats for his fledgling Hindustan Awam Party which plans to contest the election on its own symbol for which it has approached the Election Commission.

In This Pic : Ravi Shankar Prasad

Pic Courtesy : PTI

Read More