JD-U accuses BJP of trying to engineer split within party

Grappling with a crisis within, Janata Dal-United on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of plotting a split in the party and said it was willing to parade 130 MLAs -- more than the majority in the 233-member Bihar Assembly -- before the governor or the President in a show of strength.

Party spokesperson KC Tyagi suggested that Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was working at the BJP's behest and said he had no right to attend the NITI Aayog meeting in the national capital as he no longer enjoyed the confidence of the majority of MLAs after JD-U lawmakers elected Nitish Kumar as their new leader in Patna yesterday.

Asked about Manjhi's scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday evening, he said, “The fact is BJP President Amit Shah is working overtime to engineer a split in our party, like he is doing with the Trinamool Congress. He has failed... If the need arises, we will parade 130 MLAs before the governor or even the President.”

A belligerent Manjhi has refused to step down from the chief minister's post after terming the party's meeting yesterday “unconstitutional”. He is said to be exploring possibility of getting the BJP's support to remain in the top post.

Manjhi is also open to the dissolution of the Assembly so that fresh elections may be held, a demand also made by Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

Tyagi said any move to dissolve the assembly would be illegal it was the only place for proving a majority or the lack thereof and cited several Supreme Court judgements in this regard.