Gaya, March 21: Jitan Ram Manjhi may not be chief minister any more, but he talks like a chief minister-in-waiting.

At gathering attended by around 20,000 people in Gandhi Maidan here, the former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) founder said: 'Nitish Kumar is leaving no stone unturned to cut me to size even though I am not chief minister any more. I have come to know that Nitish has asked government officials like divisional commissioners, district magistrates, superintendents of police and other officials not to listen me. I want to tell them that if they don't listen to me now, they'll not be heard after six months.'

At the Circuit House today, he said: 'Overwhelmed by response of crowds, who turned up in large numbers at Muzaffarpur and Gaya, HAM will contest all 243 seats in the Assembly polls.' He dared chief minister Nitish Kumar to take action against Dal MLA Anant Singh against whom a case has been lodged at Khisersarai police station for threatening him. 'Nitish has so far not visited Bihar Nivas in Delhi because he wants to get it cleaned with Ganga jal, a sign of his feudal mentality,' he said.

Talking in Magahi dialect at the Gareeb Swabhiman Rally, Manjhi enumerated the 33 announcements he had made as chief minister. He appealed all to reach Patna's Gandhi Maidan in large numbers on April 20. If over five lakh make it, his announcements would be fulfilled, he said.

He claimed his announcements were for the welfare of all classes, be it Mahadalits, unaided teachers, students, contract employees, minorities or backward communities.

'Some sycophants told Nitish that if Manjhi continued as chief minister for four more months, there would be no one to take his (Nitish's) name. I did four-fold more work than Nitish.'

The crowd included around 1,500 female workers under the Gaya District Agarbatti Kamgar Union. Its secretary Israt Bano, said: 'Manjhi ji had promised I-D cards to over 18,000 agarbatti workers in the district. We would also be included in the below poverty line (BPL) list. It is for the first time that our demand was heard and we are with Manjhi ji.'