Patna, March 9: Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday appealed to Lalu Prasad to defeat chief minister Nitish Kumar during the trust vote on Wednesday.

'If Lalu supports Nitish Kumar, then he would not be the protector of poor people... He should show his charisma on March 11 and remove Nitish during the trust vote in order to implement the (pro-poor and pro-farmer) decisions taken by mygovernment. Let good sense prevail on Nitish too,' Manjhi said.

Along with former cabinet colleagues and sympathisers of his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) - Manjhi observed a day-long fast at Gandhi Maidan against the Nitish cabinet's decision to annul his government's decisions.

'Genuine decisions'

Manjhi said all 33 decisions taken by his cabinet were 'genuine' for the welfare of the poor. Though Manjhi and some other leaders refer to 34 decisions being annulled, the actual number is 33. One pertains to dissolution of the Assembly, which has no relevance now. The decisions the Nitish government annulled included increasing funds for legislators from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore annually under CM development schemes, setting up of a committee to study reservation for the poor among forward castes and providing 13 months' salary to policemen. 'Nitish must explain if the decisions were anti-poor or if they were annulled simply because his (Manjhi) government had taken them.

Trashing the argument about shortage of funds to finance these decisions, he said: 'Nitish is actually diverting money towards projects that have pomp and show. Projects worth thousands of crores like international museum, convention centre, new building for Legislative Assembly, new residences for legislators were not necessary at all as we are fighting poverty in the state.'

Praise for PM

Manjhi praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Swachhata Abhiyan' and also the initiative to construct toilets for all. Those who sat with him on fast included Narendra Singh, Shahid Ali Khan, Nitish Mishra and other ministers from his erstwhile cabinet. Also there were dissident JDU MLAs like Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, Poonam Devi, senior leaders Shivanand Tiwari, Shakuni Chaudhary and RJD chief Lalu Prasad's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav. HAM convener Brishen Patel moderated the function.

Gandhi caps

Manjhi and the protesters wore Gandhi caps with HAM written in Hindi and Urdu on both sides, reminding one of the Aam Admi Party cap.

Sadhu opposed

Narendra Singh seemed annoyed by the presence of Sadhu Yadav. He said: 'There is no need to be concerned by the presence of some people. We will not allow such insignificant people to find a place in the organisation. There is no scope for power-brokers or those who have earned a bad name.' Singh's statement may prove difficult for Sadhu to find a place in Manjhi's outfit. Since parting ways with Lalu in 2009, Sadhu is in the political wilderness. He has tried to find a foothold for himself but failed everywhere so far. Sadhu contested the 2009 Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket but lost badly. He had managed an audience with Narendra Modi in August 2013, but Sushil Kumar Modi opposed his entry into the BJP.