Patna: The exclusion of NDA allies Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi from a meeting of Bihar’s NDA MPs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi has exposed their diminishing political relevance, Bihar Congress has claimed.
Rajesh Rathore, chairman of the Bihar Congress media department, said the move was a clear message from the Prime Minister about the political standing of the two leaders. “Recently, Jitan Ram Manjhi was talking about showing the BJP its place, but now, with this treatment from Modi, his political status has been made clear,” Rathore said.
Rathore added that the decision to leave out Kushwaha, the RLSP chief and the only MP from his party, was a deliberate attempt to show both leaders where they stand in Bihar politics. “Before the assembly elections, this political stunt by Modi serves as an x-ray of where different parties and leaders stand in the BJP’s scheme of things,” he said, suggesting the exclusion highlighted the internal discord within Bihar’s NDA alliance and the ongoing tussle over seat-sharing.
Referring to Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary’s recent remark that “seat distribution in NDA has been done” after Manjhi staked a claim to 20 seats, Rathore said the latest developments prove that BJP does not consider Manjhi’s party worthy of support. “By keeping them out of the NDA MPs’ meeting, the reality of this so-called seat-sharing agreement has been exposed,” he said, pointing out that Kushwaha and Manjhi were also absent from the official photographs released from the Prime Minister’s office.
Jitan Ram Manjhi has brushed off speculation over his absence from the NDA MPs’ meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his relationship with the PM is beyond symbolic gestures.
“Today, due to my busy schedule with meetings related to various developmental matters of my ministry, some people started having stomach ache as they saw my photo in a photo frame,” Manjhi said in response to claims that his exclusion signaled his diminishing political relevance.
He further asserted, “My photo does not reside in any frame but in the heart of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, so avoid unnecessarily blowing up any issue.”
