Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi's son, Santosh Kumar Suman, resigned as a minister of the grand alliance government in Bihar. Speaking at aa press conference on Tuesday, Suman said he resigned to protect the existence of his party. "...the existence of my party was under threat," he said after resigning as a Bihar minister.

when asked if his party will attend the Opposition party meeting in Patna on June 23, he was quoted by ANI as saying, "When we were not even invited, when we were not even recognised as a party, how would we have been invited?"

A key meeting of opposition leaders is scheduled to take place in Patna on June 23. "Main leaders" of at least 15 opposition parties are likely to participate in the meeting. Read about the meeting in details here

#WATCH | "Why would BJP put pressure (to tender resignation)? I don't work under pressure, I will work in the interest of the party...If we get invited (to the Opposition party's meeting), we will definitely participate," says HAM leader Santosh Kumar Suman after resigning as a… pic.twitter.com/RfndAzEKub

— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2023

On the prospects of joining the NDA, he said, "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."

He added that for the past few days, a proposal for a merger of the party was being put "before us...This is not a unilateral decision by me". "This was decided after meeting with and talking to everyone..," she said.

Last year, the HAM had extended unconditional support to Nitish Kumar and the RJD-led mahagathbandhan minutes after Nitish Kumar had tendered his resignation as the state chief minister.

Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar ended ties with the BJP and submitted his resignation to governor Phagu Chauhan last year in August. After resigning, Nitish Kumar took oath as CM of Bihar for the eighth time with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy.

Suman’s resignation came after his father and HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, along with his party legislators, met Nitish Kumar last Wednesday (June 8) to discuss various issues including the seat-sharing formula for next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Manjhi’s HAM has four MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly.

(With inputs from News 18)

First Published:Jun 13, 2023 1:37 PM IST