Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief, Jitan Ram Manjhi, today quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief, Jitan Ram Manjhi, today quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to RJD-Congress 'grand-alliance'.
The development came after his meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife Rabri Devi at her residence.
Manjhi, a former aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, had floated his own party and had joined the NDA ahead of Assembly polls in 2015 after difference with the JD(U) chief.
He had formed the HAM after walking out of the JD(U) in protest against the alleged pressure to step down as chief minister in 2015 and make way for the return of Nitish Kumar. He had fought the Assembly polls held the same year as part of the NDA which lost to the Grand Alliance comprising JD(U), RJD and Congress.
He had demanded that his party be allotted one Rajya Sabha seat in the upcoming elections failing which the party would not support the BJP-led coalition in the next one Lok Sabha and two Assembly by-polls.
The Rajya Sabha election is slated for 23 March.
The by-polls for Araria Lok Sabha seat and Jahanabad and Bhabhua Assembly seats are scheduled to be held on 11 March.
Recently, Manjhi had expressed the wish that his party be allowed to contest by-poll from Jahanabad Assembly seat, but withdrew the demand following alleged cold response from the BJP.
The seat is now being contested by the JD(U), which had initially announced that it would not contest any of the three seats going for by-polls.
Senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had last month claimed that some senior leaders of the ruling NDA in Bihar were feeling "uneasy" in the BJP-led coalition and planning to join hands with Lalu Prasad's party.
The NDA leaders, he said, included Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha and Manjhi.
(With PTI inputs)
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 "Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi")
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