Bihar news: Cabinet minister Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Jitan Ram Manjhi on Tuesday tendered his resigned. Santosh Kumar Suman was Minority Welfare minister in Nitish-led Bihar Cabinet.
In an exclusive interview with India TV, Santosh Kumar Suman accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of pressuring his father to merge Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) with the JD(U). "We were being forced to merge with the JD (U)," he said.
On being questioned, if his party will attend the Opposition party meeting in Patna on June 23"...the existence of my party was under threat, I did this to protect it..," said Santosh Kumar Suman after resigning as a Bihar minister.
"When we were not even invited, when we were not even recognised as a party, how would we have been invited?," he said.
Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday demanded at least five seats for his HAM, a junior partner in the state's ruling 'Mahagathbandhan', in next year's Lok Sabha polls. Santosh Kumar Suman, who is the national president of the HAM had also last week said that the party will not agree to an offer of less than five of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
HAM is a regional party in Bihar which was founded by Jitan Ram Manjhi in 2015 and has a total of 4 seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
Amid Nitish Kumar's talks with several opposition leaders as part of his effort to forge an alliance against the BJP for 2024 Assembly elections, Jitan Ram Manjhi set political circles abuzz after meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.
Jitan Ram Manjhi was part of the RJD-led alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which the JD(U) and the BJP contested together. A Dalit leader, he enjoys influence in his 'Manjhi' community in parts of Bihar.
