Begging for 'respectable' number of seats for HAM in Bihar polls, not making claim: Manjhi

Patna, Sep 15 (PTI) Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday made it clear that he was "begging and not making a claim" that his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) be given a respectable number of seats by the NDA in the upcoming assembly polls.

Manjhi made the remark in response to queries from journalists about a statement he had made in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gaya the previous day.

"Please do not take my words in the wrong light. I consider it a blot (kalank) that even after 10 years of establishment, HAM remains an unrecognised party. I have been helping the NDA for long. So, I am begging the NDA leaders (bheekh maang rahe hain) and not making a claim," Manjhi said.

When asked if he had a figure in mind when he spoke of a "respectable share", the 80-year-old leader said, "It could be anything. It could be 20 seats. It could also be 15." Notably, on Sunday, Manjhi had said he viewed the upcoming polls as a "do-or-die situation” for the HAM, which needed "eight MLAs" in the 243-strong state assembly or six per cent of the total votes in order to become a recognised party.

Although the former Bihar chief minister has been in and out of the NDA since he floated his own party in 2015, he has contested the past couple of assembly elections as a constituent of the BJP-led coalition. In 2020, his party had contested seven seats, out of which it won four.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party, RJD, taunted Manjhi, a former ally, for "making a climbdown in just 24 hours".

"Everybody, including Manjhi himself, knows what is the standing of the HAM. He is enjoying more than what would have been his due share. His son Santosh Kumar Suman has been a minister in the Nitish Kumar government in the state. He became a Union minister himself last year when he won a Lok Sabha election for the first time," RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmed said. PTI NAC ACD