By Rohit Kumar Singh: Former Bihar chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) founder Jitan Ram Manjhi is expected to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday.

According to sources, the HAM leader will meet Amit Shah to demand Bharat Ratna for ‘Mountain Man’ Dashrath Manjhi, and former Bihar chief ministers Sri Krishna Singh and Karpoori Thakur.

Jitan Ram Manjhi’s upcoming meeting with Amit Shah has raised eyebrows in the political circles of Bihar. Though Jitan Ram Manjhi claims that his meeting with Amit Shah was non-political, speculations are rife that the Dalit leader is not having the best of relations with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He is likely to join the NDA ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

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The upcoming meeting of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Amit Shah is significant as it comes a day after Nitish Kumar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, where both sides discussed the need for the opposition to come together for next year’s Lok Sabha election.

The BJP in Bihar is looking for smaller alliance partners to bolster its NDA alliance, to take on the Mahagathbandhan comprising Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties.

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The BJP is also eyeing smaller regional players like Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) supremo Upendra Kushwaha, former JDU leader RCP Singh and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni, with which it is trying to forge an alliance in Bihar.