Manjhi slams Amit Shah for questioning grand alliance in Bihar

Patna, Aug 10: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today slammed BJP President Amit Shah for dubbing the grand alliance formed by the JD(U), RJD and Congress as "unholy" and said it was formed to collectively take on the saffron party in Bihar.

"The BJP is scared of the collective might of our alliance and so they are speaking like this," Manjhi told reporters at a function on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan here.

Hinting that the alliance in Bihar could be a precursor to the formation of an anti-BJP front at the national level, the chief minister said, "We (secular parties) want to save the country from serious threats to its unity and integrity, arising out of the saffron party's rule."

Manjhi also sought to remove doubts about the sharing of a platform by the top leaders of the parties constituting the grand alliance during the upcoming bypoll on ten Assembly seats in Bihar saying, "They will do so."

He, however, still maintained that his predecessor Nitish Kumar was the tallest leader of the ruling JD(U). Referring to another remark of the BJP president that the BJP ideology should replace that of the Congress at the national level, the chief minister said that Shah was not making this statement on his own, but was being made to say so.

Slamming the BJP ideology as "communal", Manjhi said that the BJP leaders were intentionally weakening secular fabric of the country by raking up controversial issues like the uniform civil code, Ayodhya and Article 370 of the Constitution.

"If the BJP succeeds in its intention to foist its ideology on the country and its people, the federal structure will be decimated," the chief minister said.

PTI