Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi speaks in the Lok Sabha during the winter session of Parliament in New Delhi. Photo: Sansad TV via PTI Photo
Former Bihar Chief Minister and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday (Dec 21, 2025) alleged unfair treatment under the NDA and hinted that he may have to reconsider his options if his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) party is not given a Rajya Sabha seat.
The former chief minister said this in his Gayaji Lok Sabha constituency, where he addressed a function of his party and later answered questions from reporters.
Accompanied by his son Santosh Kumar Suman, Minister of State and National President of HAM, Mr Manjhi spoke of the “betrayal” he claimed he faced within the alliance.
In the local dialect, Mr Manjhi said: “We will have to chart our own path if we don’t get what we have. My own ministerial berth is not a big deal. I will survive politically even if I stop being in the Union Cabinet.” Manjhi has made it clear that his party, of which he is the sole MP, now wants a berth in the upper house as well.
However, when reporters approached him with more questions, Manjhi backtracked and said, “Please don’t take my words out of context. I can’t even decide for my party as I am not its official but only its patron.”
The 80-year-old leader, who introduced HAM in 2015, added that his comments were prompted by media reports suggesting that in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in April, BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) would claim two seats each, while one would go to Chirag Paswan’s (Ram Vilas) Lok Janshakti Party.
He said, “This leaves us with the question of what is the harm in the Rajya Sabha elections. Before the 2024 general elections, we were promised two seats in LS and one seat in RS. We got only one Lok Sabha seat which we won for the NDA. The Rajya Sabha seat promise remains to be fulfilled and I wanted to highlight that before our party workers.”
Published – 21 Dec 2025 21:53 IST
