'Concerned' PM Modi should declare 'Mahadalit' Manjhi as CM candidate: Nitish

Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusations of abandoning a "Mahadalit", Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today took a dig at the former and said that he should declare Jitan Ram Manjhi as the NDA's chief ministerial candidate if he is so concerned.

When asked on his programme hashtag AskNitish "PM accused you of abandoning a MahaDalit like Manjhi. Your comments?" Nitish replied: "I selected him as my colleague, not because of his caste. If the PM is so concerned, why is he now not declaring him as the CM candidate of NDA?"

Responding to another question what is the reason behind not contesting the polls and why there is hesitation in directly competing against BJP, Nitish said: "The grand alliance is contesting the polls under my leadership. Hesitation prevails in the BJP as it hasn't declared its candidate yet."

Another question was asked "how do you react to @rsprasad saying you invited guests to dinner & then cancelled. He says not tradition of Bihar?" To which he said "I have reiterated time and again that the dinner was cancelled by them and not by me and if it was such a big issue why did they contest 2010 elections under my leadership after that episode?"

Nitish, who had resigned after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, had hand-picked Manjhi for the top post.

Nitish, however, once again took charge in February this year after Manjhi quit the post minutes before a trust vote.