Patna: Former Bihar Chief Minister and founder of the Hindustani Awami Morcha, Jitan Ram Manjhi met Amit Shah in Delhi on Thursday raising eyebrows among the political quarters. The meeting gains significance as it came a day after the Mahagathbandhan leaders of the Congress, JDU and RJD announced to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly.
Sources said that Manjhi met Home Minister Shah at the latter's residence in Delhi. At the meeting, Manjhi raised the demand to confer Bharat Ratna to former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, Krishna Singh and Mountain Man Dashrath Manjhi. It is learnt that Manjhi also raised a demand to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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As soon as Manjhi came out after the meeting, he was surrounded by the media persons who asked him over the agenda of the meeting and whether he will form an alliance with the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. Manjhi however put all the speculations to rest saying he will be with Nitish Kumar for the rest of his life.
Showering praise on Nitish Kumar, Manjhi said that he has “all the abilities to become PM, if his name comes in the reckoning future”. He however added that it is “not about Nitish becoming the Prime Minister, it is about the alliance”. “Many people are the claimants. But Nitish also has all the qualities to become the Prime Minister, so we want him to become the PM of the country”.
But all this will be decided later. For the time being, it is necessary for the opposition to unite. Significantly, Manjhi's meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah comes a day after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Teajshwi Yadav and other Mahagathbandhan leaders in New Delhi and announced that the constituent parties will unitedly fight the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
