Patna: Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday said Dalits did not attack the convoy of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Manjhi said this after an eight-member probe team of Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) returned from Nandan village in Buxar district, where chief minister Nitish Kumar's convoy was attacked. Without naming local JDU MLA Dadan Pahalwan, the national president of HAMS said no development work has been carried out in the hamlet where the CM was attacked. "According to the report submitted by our probe team, Dalits did not attack the convoy of the chief minister. It (Dalits attacked the CM) is only highlighted by the media. It was not a sudden attack. It was pre-planned. It was not possible to arrange so many bricks in such a short time. It was pre-planned," Manjhi said at his official residence 12-M Strand Road.

Manjhi was accompanied by party state unit president Brishen Patel, former MLC Mahachandra Prasad Singh, HAMS women cell president Anamika Pawan and party national spokesperson Danish Rizwan. Manjhi added there was anger among the Dalits because only non-Dalit hamlets saw development. He blamed Pahalwan and mukhiya Rajiv Kumar Pathak for the incident.

Without naming Pahalwan, who was present on the day of the incident at Nandan, Manjhi said: "The local MLA and mukhiya did not like the discontentment among the Dalits because they were exposing them. The MLA and the mukhiya thought if the chief minister comes to know that no development work has been carried out at the Dalit hamlet, it might put them in trouble. So the MLA and the mukhiya initiated a tussle with the Dalits. The Dalits then attacked the MLA and the mukhiya and not the CM. Some other people attacked the CM's convoy and not the Dalits."

Manjhi alleged that the local MLA wanted to get superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar and district magistrate Arvind Kumar Verma of Buxar transferred because they were not heeding to the MLA's whims and fancies and accordingly planned the attack.

Dadan told The Telegraph over phone: "I have never contacted the DM and the SP for any work. Whatever Manjhi is saying is rubbish. Nobody knew Manjhi before Nitish ji made him CM and he ditched Nitishji."