Uma Bharati with chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi at 1 Aney Marg on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh
Patna, Feb. 2: Union minister for water resources and river development Uma Bharati today showered praise on Jitan Ram Manjhi, triggering speculation that the BJP was "preying" on the chief minister in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
"Manjhi is an ideal person... a messiah for the poor. He hails from a poor family and is doing good work for the poor. He can be described as the symbol of development," Uma told reporters after a meeting with the chief minister.
The Union minister was here in connection with a scheduled meeting with Manjhi on the issues of rivers' linking, floods and droughts, recurrently be-devilling the state. Manjhi accompanied Uma through the news conference.
Pointed out that the state BJP leaders were attacking Manjhi, Uma said: "Political assessment of an individual leader and assessment of the government are two different things. The state party leaders' remarks might be based on the assessment of the government."
Uma's praise for Manjhi has come at the time when the chief minister is under fire from his own party colleagues and also the state BJP leadership for furnishing wrong figures related to his age and assets. Before her, BJP national president Amit Shah also went soft on Manjhi. He completely spared the chief minister while training his guns on the JDU architect, Nitish Kumar, and RJD boss Lalu Prasad during his maiden visit to Patna on January 24 to commemorate the birth anniversary of socialist icon Karpoori Thakur.
Uma's praise today is being viewed in the political circles in the light of the BJP's calculated efforts to use him in its "ploy" to weaken the base of Nitish and his efforts to reunite the Janata parivar factions with Lalu, Mulayam Singh Yadav and others to stop the BJP from conquering Bihar.
Manjhi refused to comment on Uma's praise. "I am an open-hearted person. The people who meet me praise me. But I have no comments to offer on the Union minister's praise for me."
On his meeting with Uma, the chief minister said: "We discussed 16 to 17 points focusing on how to minimise the hazardous impact of rivers emanating from Nepal on Bihar."
The Centre has sanctioned over Rs 1,000 crore for Bihar to construct sewage treatment plants and sewage networks.
Uma said she has invited Manjhi and other chief ministers to discuss the issues with her in New Delhi in 15-20 days. "The Centre will try to address the issues of the state," she said.
She claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested the ministers to carry out development work for four-and-a-half years and get busy with politics only six months ahead of the polls. "I am here on a development mission, not on a political one," she said.
But her praise for Manjhi has given a political tinge to her visit to the state.
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