For the third time in the past four months, former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi headed to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi with one target in mind-- JD-U leader Nitish Kumar.
The meeting comes at a time when informal talks were being held between him and the BJP for an alliance in the Bihar election. Manjhi is understood to have met Modi to discuss issues relating to development of the state and corruption, that could heighten the anxiety on the other side of the political aisle. Sources close to him said Manjhi was of the view that there was scope to work together to fight corruption and take steps for growth of the state ahead of the election.
While Manjhi was evasive on the question of an alliance with the BJP, he said "if there is a need to align with any party after the election, I will go with a formation which does not include Nitish Kumar." Refusing to divulge detalis of his talks with Modi on political issues, Manjhi said he raised the issue of farmers' plight and alleged irregularities in paddy procurement.
Meanwhile, in the initial rounds of informal talks with the BJP in Bihar, Manjhi, who has floated his own outfit called the Hindustani Awam Morcha, is understood to have made a bid for 50 seats. However, the demand does not fit into the BJP's calculations, which has to accommodate allies like Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok janshakti Party and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samata Party. While Paswan's party has six Lok Sabha seats (36 assembly seats), Kushwaha's party has three (18), leaving 189 seats.
Manjhi, who is influential in 19 seats, may scale down the demand when the two get down to formal talks, according to the sources. The BJP may agree to part with 15-20 seats for Manjhi, who would help in wooing the mahadalit community, accounting for around 12 per cent vote in the state. The RJD is also trying to reach out to the mahadalit leader. But RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav has said on Wednesday that a decision on the Janata Parivar merger would be taken soon.
Even as the BJP is factoring in seats for its existing allies and was keeping doors open for new ones like Manjhi and expelled RJD MP Pappu Yadav, the party was aiming at a majority by itself, in a state where it had been the JD-U's junior partner for 17 years. The BJP had set a target of capturing at least 130 seats, to be comfortably placed over the magic figure of 122 in a House of 243, according to party sources.
Besides, the party, which has never fought elections in around 100 seats in the state, is trying to tap former and sitting MLAs in the JD-U and RJD to field them in such seats. Nitish Kumar is understood to be denying tickets to several MLAs, in the light of the Lok Sabha results. BJP sources said the party was looking at factors like winnability and clean image before taking them on board.
Meanwhile, the Modi government has started announcing schemes for the state, where elections are likely in October. Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was in Patna to highlight the Modi's government's achievements over one year, announced that the state would get roads worth Rs 50,000 crore. He also said a water-port would be constructed along the Ganga in Patna to connect with Kolkata by next year. He said ministry will open driving training centres in all assembly constituencies of the state.
