Have Nitish and Manjhi fully kissed and made up?

Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi appears to be softening his stand towards his one-time “political guru” and incumbent Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The bonhomie that both leaders showcased at the Iftaar party hosted by RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday (July 1) is a strong indication that Manjhi may finally bury the hatchet and come back to his parent party JD(U).

Both Manjhi and Nitish were seen sitting beside each other and discussing a thing or two during Lalu’s Iftaar party. The talk between the two leaders were not limited to exchanging pleasantries. This gives rise to the question: is political realignment on the cards in Bihar?

Manjhi, two days later, at the Iftaar party hosted by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, made it even clearer that he was not at loggerheads with either Nitish or Lalu. Manjhi said that Nitish and Lalu were like his own brothers.

“When has my relation deteriorated with Nitish and Lalu? We are like three brothers and now in three different parties and when three brothers come home, they eat together. Private relation is different from political relation,” said Manjhi.

Nitish too does not appear to be in a mood to carry on with the animosity with Manjhi and his camaraderie with the latter speaks volumes about this. Nitish, during his meeting with Manjhi at Lalu's Iftaar party, said that there was no harm in meeting Manjhi.

Nitish said, “During Ramzan there is an atmosphere of communal harmony. What is the problem in Manjhi joining us? It’s a social event.”

Lalu too looked keen to bring back Manjhi, a big Dalit face in Bihar politics into the JD(U)-RJD fold. It may be remembered that as far as the mahagathbandhan is concerned, there is no big Dalit face which can make the Nitish government look like a government for Dalits.

Dalits and Mahadalits together account for 16 per cent of the vote bank in Bihar. This includes five per cent Dusadh votes and 2.8 per cent Musahar votes.

Census 2011 identified 21 of the 22 Dalit sub-castes, including Musahar, Bhuiyan, Dom, Chamar, Dhobi and Nat as Mahadalits. The Paswan caste was left out of the Mahadalit category.

Just before the Bihar Assembly elections in 2015, Nitish included Paswans also in the Mahadalit category which necessarily meant that all the Dalits sub-castes in Bihar were now Mahadalits.

This clearly shows how important Manjhi will be for the ruling alliance in Bihar.

Speaking at the Iftaar party that he hosted, Lalu said Manjhi was like his elder brother.

“Manjhi is like my old brother and I too had gone to the Iftaar which Majhi had hosted,” said Lalu.

However, Lalu surprised everyone on Sunday (July 3) when he proposed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should replace Ram Vilas Paswan with Manjhi during his cabinet reshuffle as Paswan had become old.

Lalu’s statement clearly shows that he wants to create a division in the NDA camp as he is sure that Manjhi will fail to find a place in Modi’s cabinet following the reshuffle. It was Lalu’s way of getting Manjhi back in the mahagathbandhan.

Sources say that Manjhi is not keen to remain in the NDA fold anymore as he may not find a place in the Modi's cabinet following a reshuffle, against expectations.

While the BJP sounded unperturbed with Manjhi quitting the NDA, the JD(U) was cautious, keeping in mind the track record of Manjhi in the last two years.

“Manjhi has his own party. He fought with NDA. Everyone has right to run a party in the manner he likes. Whether I am happy or disappointed, I will tell only after he quits NDA,” said Union minister Giriraj Singh.

“The track record of Manjhi has been good in the last two years. Let him approach JD(U) to join the party. Everything will be decided then,” said JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.

So what will Manjhi’s next move be ? All eyes would be on that over the next few days.

Manjhi knows that staying in the NDA is not going to serve any purpose as elections would be held in Bihar only after another four years and switching over to his parent party may help him get some important ministerial berth or position.