Patna: Narendra Singh, former agriculture minister in Nitish Kumar's cabinet, merged his faction of Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular with the JDU on Sunday, accusing Jitan Ram Manjhi of ditching the party.

Narendra had joined the party floated by Manjhi before the 2015 Assembly elections. In a workers' meet at Avar Abhiyanta Bhavan, Narendra claimed his was the real HAMS.

"After parting ways with Nitish Kumar ji, we formed the Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) to be with the NDA but Jitan Ram Manjhi ditched us by joining hands with Lalu Prasad for the sake of getting a Council seat for his son. Today, we have decided to replace him and now the new national president is Gajendra Manjhi (earlier state general secretary of HAMS). With consensus, the new party president has decided to merge the party with the JDU," Narendra said.

"After seeing today's Jitan Ram Manjhi I am repent taking a wrong decision to leave Nitishji," Narendra added. "I had never thought that he (Manjhi) could do anything for the sake of kursi (power)."

Few days ago, when Narendra slammed Manjhi for joining the RJD camp, HAMS state unit president Brishen Patel had declared the former minister was not a member of the party.

HAMS national spokesperson Danish Rizwan also rubbished Narendra's claim of "real HAMS". "Narendra ji is a suspended JDU leader and his claim is hollow. He is not a member of our party. He is doing this for his sons (read Ajay Pratap and Sumit Kumar Singh). His actions prove he has struck some deal with Nitish Kumar and will now alone join the JDU. Those present in the meeting are not members of our party," Rizwan said.