No question of withdrawing support from Nitish govt: Manjhi's son

Patna, Dec 8 (IANS) A day after HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi threatened to withdraw support from the Nitish Kumar government if his demand of Rs 1,000 crore grant to develop his constituencies was not met, his son and cabinet minister Santosh Kumar Suman on Wednesday said that question of pulling out does not arise.

"Jitan Ram Manjhi has demanded Rs 1000 crore from Nitish Kumar government but that does not mean he would withdraw support. He has demanded money for the development of the constituencies where our party is representing in Bihar Assembly," the state SC&ST minister said.

"The opposition leaders are highlighting the issue without any reason and blowing it out of proportion. Jitam Ram Manjhi is saying that this is his last political inning and he wants to develop his constituency as much as possible. He was trying to connect with people of his constituency and hence he had said, "Kahi HAM Chamak nahi Jaye isliye Aap Nahi Dijiyega To Samajh Lijiye. This statement cannot be construed as pulling back from the NDA. The money is needed for the development," Suman said.

"Bihar NDA is united and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) is within the alliance," Suman said.

Jitan Ram Manjhi, while addressing the gathering in Mahua block in his Assembly constituency Imamganj in Gaya district on Tuesday, said: "If Nitish Kumar would not give me Rs 1000 crore for the development of his party's constituencies in Bihar, we are free to take decision. We are not in his party, we are in the coalition of this government and we can seperate our party from this coalition.

"Though, Nitish Kumar does not ignore me. He always listens to me and I am sure that he will sanction the said amount for the development of our constituencies," Manjhi further said.

HAM has four seats in Bihar Assembly and is one of the parties in present coalition government of NDA led by Nitish Kumar. The party of Jitan Ram Manjhi is holding the key of this government having 127 members, including 74 of BJP, 45 of JDU, 4 of HAM, 3 of VIP and one independent candidate. If Jitan Ram Manjhi withdraw support from NDA government, it will reach just one seat above the majority level.

NDA has 243 seats in the Asembly and 122 required to form the government.