Bihar political crisis: Paswan not in favour of President's rule in state

New Delhi, Feb 20: Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said that he does not favour imposition of President's rule in Bihar after Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's resignation as it could give an opportunity to JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar to claim that he was "victimised".

Blaming Kumar for the high-voltage political drama in the state that culminated into the resignation of Manjhi, Paswan said that the former Bihar Chief Minister cannot live without power and it is better that he gets six months again as Chief Minister as people will be disenchanted with him.

He also made it clear that NDA will continue to support Manjhi in future. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a coolie rally organised by his party, Paswan, who heads Lok Janshakti Party, a key NDA ally in Bihar, said that Nitish Kumar alone is responsible for the entire political turmoil.

"First he (Kumar) divided the poor, then he divided the Dalits and Mahadalits. As a fish cannot survive without water, Nitish, too, cannot live without power.

"It's good that Kumar once again becomes Chief Minister now so that people get disenchanted with him within the next six months," Paswan said.

He also rejected the contention that BJP has got "exposed" in the chain of events in Bihar, an allegation levelled by Congress, JD(U) and RJD.

"We backed a Mahadalit. We will remain together even in future. It (Manjhi's resignation) has caused no damage to our politics. We had promised to back Manjhi and will support him even in future.

"But he felt that he did not have the numbers and hence he resigned. What can we do in this," Paswan said. He alleged that Kumar was also responsible for the "impediment" that has come in development of Bihar.

"He (Kumar) should tell whether he supports the announcements made by Jitan Ram Manjhi," Paswan questioned. Paswan alleged that Kumar earlier created divide among Dalits by doing Mahadalit politics.

"He first damaged Paswans. Now he has sacrificed a Mahadalit Jitan Ram Manjhi to capture power," Paswan said.

PTI