Suman told media persons that he resigned from the Nitish cabinet as he wanted to protect his party`s identity.

PATNA: Former Bihar chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) patron Jitan Ram Manjhi`s son Santosh Kumar Suman resigned from the state cabinet, accusing CM Nitish Kumar of trying to destroy his party`s identity by exerting pressure on HAM leadership to merge the party with JD (U).

Suman told media persons that he resigned from the Nitish cabinet as he wanted to protect his party`s identity. He said that JD (U) had been pressuring his party for the merger for a long time.

When reporters asked whether there was any possibility of compromise with the JD (U), Suman said that there was no such possibility as he resigned from the cabinet after giving complete thought to it.

#WATCH | "...the existence of my party was under threat, I did this to protect it..," says HAM leader 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 says… https://t.co/m2C4yERYRa pic.twitter.com/T3nJx1LtTG

— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2023

Suman said, “My party can remain part of the grand alliance if two major allies of the grand alliance- RJD and JD (U) wished so. I may be in the grand alliance as an MLA too.” When asked about HAM leaders meeting with the state governor recently, he shot back and said there was nothing wrong if his party leaders had met with the governor.

#WATCH | "We are not having any such conversation with anyone as of now. We are an independent party, we will think about protecting our existence. I am not thinking this right now, I still want to be a part of Mahagathbandhan," says HAM leader Santosh Kumar Suman when asked if… pic.twitter.com/lwhgI8j7fD

— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2023

Suman said that similarly there was a hue and cry when his father Manjhi met union home minister Amit Shah. He said that his father had met Shah for putting forth the party`s demand for honouring the Mountain Man Dashrath Manjhi with Bharat Ratna. When asked about the HAM joining NDA, Suman avoided giving any reply and also rejected the speculation that BJP had offered his father Manjhi the post of governor and that he would be given the Lok Sabha ticket from Gaya.

On the other hand, HAM MLA from Sikandara Prafulla Manjhi said, “Even when we had met Nitish recently, he offered us to merge our party with the JD (U) but we did not yield to the pressure and instead chose the path of struggle,” he added. Though it will not make any impact on the government even if HAM which has four MLAs quit the grand alliance, Suman`s resignation ahead of a meeting of opposition parties in the state capital on June 23 must have unnerved Nitish.