Amid reports that Jitan Ram Manjhi was under pressure to quit, the Bihar Chief Minister today found an unlikely supporter in Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan who said Manjhi was never given freedom by his predecessor Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad to stamp his authority on the government.
"Manjhi was never given freedom by his predecessor Nitish Kumar and the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad to stamp his authority on the government and take decision on the development and law and order fronts as a result of which Bihar has been gripped with a 'constitutional crisis' due to rapid deterioration of the law and order situation," he said.
The Union Food Minister expressed his views while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the 29th meeting of the Central Consumer Protection Council (CCPC) here.
The law and order situation has turned from bad to worse and it appeared that there was no government worth its salt in
place in Bihar, Paswan said, but interestingly added that Manjhi was not responsible for all this mess as he has not been allowed to take decision in independent manner.
In fact, Nitish and Lalu should be held squarely responsible for deteriorating law and order situation and lack of development in Bihar as both have been guilty of pulling the chief minister in different direction, the Union Minister said and sympathised with the chief minister for his plight.
He went as far as to allege that Nitish had made Manjhi his successor thinking that he (CM) will be a 'puppet' at his command, but things soured as the latter came of his predecessor's shadow and started taking his own decisions.
Expressing solidarity with the 'mahadalit' chief minister, the LJP supremo said that neither he nor his party had any complaints with Manjhi, who was like a brother to him given their identical social background and vowed to stood by the embattled chief minister despite not having MLAs in the state Legislative Assembly.
"We extend moral support to Manjhi," he said.
