Nitish says no plan to oust Manjhi

Patna, Jan 19: As infighting continued in JD(U), senior party leader Nitish Kumar today dismissed any "plan" to replace Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

"There is no plan in the party to remove Jitan Ram Manjhi from the post of Chief Minister," Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function at Phulwarisharif.

"He (Manjhi) is doing his work and there is no plan in JD(U) to remove Manjhi from the CM's post," Kumar said amid reports of power tussle between him and Manjhi.

"I had resigned (from the CM's post) taking a responsible decision and chose Manjhi to succeed me and since than never looked at CM's post," he said.

Kumar sought to play down party spokesman Ajay Alok seeking resignation of three ministers for their alleged proximity to BJP.

Such things happen in every party and there was nothing unusual that it happened in JD(U), he said and hit out at BJP for taking advantage of situation to attack JD(U) and its government.

"Initially BJP used to allege that I am running Manjhi government by remote. Now they say I and other leaders are trying to topple him.

"I have heard about split personality. But in the present situation, entire BJP is appearing to have a split personality," he said.

Kumar has called a meeting of JD(U) leaders at his official residence here tomorrow, party sources said.

Kumar's statement came amid reports of infighting within ruling JD(U) with many ministers complaining against Alok, who, however, sounded unrepentant for his comments.

Senior minister Narendra Singh, who is among the three ministers whose resignation has been sought by Alok, had met Kumar at his residence last night and complained against the party spokesman.

Singh, who is the state Agriculture Minister and reportedly siding with Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi in the power tussle with Kumar, also spoke to JD(U) President Sharad Yadav over phone on the issue, according to sources.

Two other ministers whose resignations were sought are Brishen Patel and Nitish Mishra. Alok's demand has been resented by many ministers, including Mahachandra Prasad Singh, Baidyanath Sahni and Javed Iqbal Ansari who rebuked Alok for it.

PTI