A commander who has entered the war zone full of bluster but bereft of a strategy or ammunition — Jitan Ram Manjhi fits the description as he stumbles his way as chief minister of a state that urgently needs economic resuscitation.

In the five months that he has held the reins, Manjhi has hurtled from one controversy to another, making statements that have evoked sharp reactions but doing little to get governance going.

When Nitish Kumar picked Manjhi, a Mahadalit, for the chair he was vacating post the electoral debacle, JDU strategists hailed it as a “masterstroke”. The JDU, which won just two of the state’s 40 seats, had to arrest the slide of the Mahadalit votes — constituting nearly 15 per cent of the electorate — and prevent them from shifting to the resurgent BJP.

The strategists also calculated, wrongly, as they now accept, that Manjhi — a low-profile leader belonging to the lowest strata of the society — would quietly and unquestioningly follow Nitish’s prescription on governance while guarding the party's interests.

Manjhi, though, started off on a wrong note. Instead of focusing on the work ethics and the governance roadmap that Nitish had laid down for him, Manjhi unleashed a barrage of controversial statements, pushing the already battered JDU to the wall.

The narrative has drastically changed in the Manjhi era. Instead of debates on law and order, roads, bridges, schools, health, power, relief from floods and drought relief, Manjhi's repeated controversial statements have assumed the centrality of the discourse.

“Manjhi is a thoroughly confused chief minister. He had never expected the post. Now that he has got it, he does not know what to do, what to say and how to conduct himself. The state is in a bad shape because its commander is clueless. Manjhi neither has the vision nor the capability to run Bihar. He is remote-controlled by Nitish and now Lalu Prasad too,” senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, while assessing the reign of Manjhi.

Manjhi is also devoid of the required weaponry in that he has little authority over his ministers and also the party apparatus, which is still largely under Nitish’s control. In the suddenness of events that saw Manjhi being catapulted to the chief minister's chair, he found little time and space to work on the strategy he was supposed to formulate as the head of government and his legislature party.

The striking difference between the style of functioning of Manjhi and Nitish is rooted in the manner in which the two leaders conducted themselves. Nitish ground it out for 11 long years after parting ways with the Janata Dal in 1994 to replace the Lalu-Rabri regime in 2005. In the process, he prepared himself for the chief minister's post and worked meticulously to drive home his vision while occupying the seat for about eight years. He invariably spoke what he envisioned and seldom corrected what he once said.

It is not that Nitish’s policy decisions — be it related to law and order, road, education, health, power, investment, infrastructure building — or political ones related to breaking the alliance with the BJP and going back to Lalu’s company, were always free from criticism. But having made up his mind, Nitish stuck to his decision and spoke with clarity.

Unlike Nitish, who drew accolades from the likes of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, then Word Bank head Robert Zoellick, policy makers, leaders and central ministers across the political spectrum, Manjhi faces a “censure” from his own party leadership and stringent attack from the opposition BJP. Even a section of Manjhi’s legislators is gunning for his head as the chief minister prepares to present his first report card on Tuesday.

Manjhi’s gaffes are many. On Dussehra, at least 33 people perished in a deadly stampede near Gandhi Maidan. A seemingly unfeeling Manjhi, true to his perfunctory ways, dismissed the tragedy, saying “aisi ghatnayein hote rehte hain (Such incidents keep happening)”.

Last Wednesday, he had threatened to “ban” the entry of the central ministers from Bihar if they failed to assist him in raising the cause of the state. Before that, Manjhi touched off a wave of protests when he said upper castes were foreigners as they were Aryans. This earned the chief minister a sharp rebuke from JDU national president Sharad Yadav, who admonished Manjhi against “re-writing the history of races and mankind” that amounted to widening the social rift. Party legislators such as Munna Shahi, Sunil Pandey and others clamoured for Manjhi’s immediate replacement.

On one occasion, Manjhi said that doctors avoiding their duty should have their hands 'chopped off'. He corrected himself the next day, saying he had used the phrase 'chopping off' as euphemism for tough action. By then the damage had been done.

It is not that Manjhi hasn’t had his moments of glory. He learned from the mistakes that happened during the Duessehra stampede. He ensured that Chhath passed off peacefully and smoothly - residents say they can’t recall the last time they experienced such a hassle-free festival. His government has announced its decision to appoint two lakh primary teachers, 3,364 professors and over 68,000 constables in the near future, no doubt keeping its eyes on the 2015 Assembly elections. His installation as the chief minister was followed by the JDU-RJD-Congress’s victory in the August byelection to 10 Assembly seats. The grand alliance reversed the Lok Sabha trends somewhat and won six seats against the BJP’s four.

One place that stands out in the muddle is Manjhi’s ancestral village of Mahakar in Gaya district. While the state has relatively slid on several fronts — law and order, health, education and infrastructure — Mahakar has undergone a sea change during his six months in office. A new high school, police station, helipad, power grid, community hall — all the edifices of a model village are in the making at Mahakar.

For Manjhi, this is a make-or-break year. If he survives within the party and holds on to his chair, he will have to focus on governance if the JDU and its allies wish to provide a meaningful challenge to the BJP, which is still enjoying a honeymoon period with the voters thanks to the popularity of Narendra Modi.

If Manjhi succeeds, the elections will be keenly fought. If he doesn’t, this could well be the first and last report card that the chief minister presents.