PATNA: Infighting in JD-U knocked the door of judiciary on Saturday even as the JD-U Legislature Party elected Nitish Kumar as its new leader, replacing Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
However, Manjhi called the meeting illegal and proposed to dissolve the state Assembly to the Governor in a Cabinet meeting on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Lalan Ram, a Dalit leader from Vaishali, filed a case against JD-U president Sharad Yadav, general secretary K C Tyagi and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar for conspiring to remove Manjhi as chief minister of Bihar.
He complained to the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Hajipur under sections 504 and 120B of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 that the three senior leaders conspired and used abusive language against Manjhi to insult him and dalits besides creating unrest in the society.
He says people belonging to the SC category were immensely happy when Manjhi became the CM. But the “conspiracy” to oust him has hurt the community and caused severe mental shock.
Earlier, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Vishnu Paswan had also lodged an FIR against Sharad Yadav on January 19 for making casteist remarks against Manjhi, hurting sentiments of Dalits and Musahar caste people.
As per media reports, Manjhi has left for Delhi with his supporters to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. BJP has not yet announced support to Manjhi but reported asked him to manage support of 30 MLAs.
Yadav had called a meeting of the JD(U) Legislature Party on Saturday, and got Nitish Kumar elected as the new leader. But Manjhi called the meeting illegal and did not attend along with seven ministers of his Cabinet, known to be Manjhi’s supporters.
Manjhi, handpicked by Kumar who quit as CM following defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in May, 2014, has proposed to dissolve the state Assembly at a cabinet meeting on Saturday.
