Patna,(BiharTimes): A few days after saying that he would not join the BJP till his last breath and that he would take ‘sanyas’ (retirement) from politics rather than join the saffron brigade, Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi once again reposed full faith in the leadership of former chief minister Nitish Kumar.Sharing dais with him and Janata Dal (United) national president, Sharad Yadav, on the occasion of the 91st birth anniversary of former chief minister late Karpoori Thakur at a jam-packed Shri Krishna Memorial Hall on Saturday afternoon Manjhi minced no words to announce: “A lie is being spread. But there are no differences between Jitan Ram Manjhi and Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar has shown and set a very high moral standard and resigned from the post of chief minister.

He could have made chief minister someone from his caste or people close to him but he reposed faith in me and made me the chief minister. I will never breach his trust at any cost. We are one.”

His statement came after early morning close-door meeting he had with Sharad and state party chief Vashistha Narayan Singh in the state guest house before the chief minister flew to Karpoorigram, the ancestral village of late Socialist leader.

This show of unity within the party was attended by senior party office-bearers, leaders, MPs, MLAs and ministers among. Prominent among them were state party president Vashishtha Narayan Singh, ministers Vijay Choudhary, Bhim Singh, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Baidnath Sahni, and Shyam Rajak as well as Ali Anwar, Anil Sahni and Kahkashan Parveen––the last three being the Rajya Sabha MPs.Manjhi’s presence and categorical statement in his favour emboldened Nitish, who chose the occasion to allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party would try to divide the people, especially the extremely backward castes (EBCs) in the name of religion and caste.

He said that the leaders of the BJP would approach with communal poison, Do not get trapped by their allurements or speeches, he appealed to each and everyone present there. But the message was loud and clear and was clearly directed towards his detractors within the JD(U).

Urging the people, especially of the weaker section of the society to remain united, he questioned BJP’s love for Karpoori Thakur stating that it was the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the earlier version of the BJP, which in 1979 was instrumental in pulling down his government a few months after he, as the chief minister of the state, implemented reservation for the backward castes on the basis of Mungeri Lal Commission report.

Similarly, the BJP withdrew its support from the V P Singh government when it implemented the Mandal Commission report which recommended reservation for the backward castes in the Central government, Nitish said.He accused the saffron party of hijacking Swami Vivekananda and Sardar Patel and is now trying to repeat the legacy of Karpoori Thakur. But they would not succeed in Bihar.