Sharad Yadav Calls JDU Meeting on Saturday; Will Jitan Ram Manjhi be Replaced as Bihar Chief Minister?

Janata Dal United chief Sharad Yadav has called a party meeting on Saturday, amid buzz that the JDU could elect a new leader in place of Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has been chief minister of Bihar for the last nine months.

Sources said all efforts by Mr Yadav to convince Mr Manjhi to step down have come to naught.

Mr Manjhi, however, has termed the meeting "illegal." In a statement, he said that only the chief minister is authorized to call a meeting of the legislature party.

With elections due in Bihar later this year, party leaders are said to agree that Mr Manjhi must go and Nitish Kumar be brought back as chief minister. Mr Manjhi has in his short tenure scripted several controversies and embarrassments for the party.

In May last year, one day after national election results delivered a stinging blow to the JDU in Bihar, Nitish Kumar had resigned. He owned responsibility for his party getting only two of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats in an election that saw partner-turned-rival BJP win with 31 seats in the state along with its allies.

Mr Kumar handpicked Mr Manjhi to take his place, in an arrangement that seemed to suggest that it would be a matter of time before Mr Kumar would be back to lead the party. Mr Manjhi though seems to have had other plans.

He has repeatedly highlighted the fact that he is a Mahadalit, one of the poorest and most underprivileged castes in Bihar, and has recently earned the vocal support of Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, who is also a minister in the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Mr Manjhi has also seemed to warn his party that he is not averse to a new affiliation by praising several top BJP leaders, including Prime MInister Narendra Modi - once seen as Nitish Kumar's arch political rival.  

On Thursday, however, the Bihar chief minister attacked the Centre in a public speech and was all praise for Nitish Kumar.

Sources say Mr Yadav has discussed a change of guard with new partner and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is said to have told him that it's the JDU's decision to take.

Lalu Prasad Yadav extended crucial support to the Bihar government after the JDU parted ways with the BJP in 2013.