Pappu Yadav upset over decision to sack Manjhi

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Rajiv Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Saturday said the move of Janata Dal (United) to sack Jitan Ram Manjhi as the Bihar Chief Minister will send a very wrong message and added that an indirect invitation has been sent to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because of the personal egos and arrogance.

"It will send a very wrong message. Nitish ji is an experienced leader. He had said that he that he would come back after a new mandate, it would have been a very good step and Nitishji would have got the opportunity to work strongly. I still admire Nitish Kumarji," Yadav told ANI here.

"But what mistake did Jitan Ram Manjhi ji do. He was working on the agenda set by Lalu Yadavji and Karpoori Thakur......You should have told him his mistake. He just tried to challenge the willfulness of people like PK Shahi and Lallan Singh. I don't understand why an experienced leader like Nitish ji could not understand this," he added.

Yadav further said the latest political development in Bihar will have a negative impact in the coming days.

"I would like to tell my honourable leader Lalu Yadavji that this gives a message that the BJP should come back (to power in Bihar). The insult of the 27 percent Dalits and Mahadalits has sent a very wrong message across the country. This will definitely have a negative impact. We have in a way given an invitation to the BJP. We have brought in the BJP because of our personal interests and arrogance," he added.

Meanwhile, BJP president Amit Shah had a meeting in New Delhi with the state party leaders from Bihar in view of the current political situation.

Bihar BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav attended the meeting during which they discussed the political situation and party strategy.

Manjhi was earlier this afternoon sacked as the chief minister of Bihar. The MLAs elected Manjhi's predecessor, Nitish Kumar, as their leader.

This move by the Janata Dal (United) takes place following the internal friction within the party, as a defiant Manji had refused to give up the chief minister's post.

Senior JD (U) leaders wanted his predecessor Nitish to lead the party yet again in the run-up to the elections due in the state later this year.

Manjhi, who headed a minority government supported by Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), had earlier declared a meeting called today by JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav as 'illegal'.

Manjhi, who had embarrassed his party on several occasions during his short tenure, had contended that only the chief minister can call a meeting of MLAs.

Nitish, who had resigned as chief minister owning responsibility for his party getting only two of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, had handpicked Manjhi to take his place last year.