Bihar: Jitan Ram Manjhi demands Rajya Sabha seat for his party

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday alleged that he was treated unfairly under the NDA and stated that he may have to reconsider his options if his party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) is not allotted a Rajya Sabha seat.

The former CM made the remarks where he addressed a function of his party in Gayaji parliamentary constituency and later answered questions from journalists.

Manjhi, along with his son Santosh Kumar Suman, HAM’s state minister and national president, spoke about the “betrayal” he claimed he faced in the alliance.
Speaking in the local dialect Magahi, he said: “If we don’t get our rights, we will have to make our own way. My own ministerial position is not that important. Even if I stop being in the Union Cabinet, I will survive politically.”

Manjhi made it clear that his party, of which he is the only member of parliament, now wants to take part in the Upper House.

But when journalists approached him with more questions, Manjhi, in his characteristic style, backtracked and said: “Please do not take my words out of context. I cannot even take the decision of my party because I am not its office bearer, just its boss (Sanghrakshak).”
The 80-year-old leader, who elected HAM in 2015, added that his comments were based on media reports suggesting that the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) will demand two seats each in the April Rajya Sabha elections, while one will go to Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

“This leaves us with the question of what damage has been done in the Rajya Sabha elections. We were promised two LS seats and one RS seat ahead of the 2024 general elections. We got only one Lok Sabha seat and we won it for the NDA. The promise regarding the Rajya Sabha seat remains to be fulfilled and that is what I want to emphasize before our party workers.”