Nitish Kumar Ally Quits As Minister, Says Party's "Existence Under Threat"

Bihar Minister Santosh Kumar Suman today quit Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led cabinet, alleging pressure to merge his party with Mr Kumar's Janata Dal (United). "Our party's existence was under threat, I did this to protect it," he said.

"When we were not even invited, when we were not even recognised as a party, how would we have been invited?" he says when asked if his party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will attend the big Opposition party meeting in Patna on June 23.

"Various creatures live in a jungle. There are lions, and small animals who are hunted...all of them escape, deer also escape. We were also escaping so far but felt today that we won't be safe for long so parted ways," he said, without explaining the analogy further.

Mr Suman further said his party is not thinking about reaching out to the BJP-led NDA, and will stick with the ruling alliance. 

"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," the HAM leader responded when asked if he will join the NDA.

Mr Suman, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, is the Minister for SC/ST Welfare Department in the state government. His party is an ally of ruling JD(U) and Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). HAM will remain part of the ruling alliance, Santosh Kumar Suman clarified.

Santosh Kumar Suman had offered his resignation to Bihar Parliamentary Affairs minister and Nitish Kumar's party collague Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who is authorised to speak to Mr Suman regarding participation in the state government.