By Manoj Pathak

Patna, Jun 11 (IANS): Larger parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal United JD(U) which are part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar are in a dilemma over the issues raised by smaller allies like Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).

By raising such issues, the tension between the parties which are part of the NDA is quite evident. There is already a tussle between HAM and the BJP, the largest constituent party in the NDA. HAM Chief and former Bihar Chief Minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, has put the Bihar government in a spot by advising it on various issues.

Now another smaller NDA alliance partner VIP has also created problems for the Bihar government by demanding a refund of the money collected from the members of the Legislative Assembly and the Bihar Legislative Council.

Manjhi's HAM has said that some BJP leaders are trying to destabilise the Bihar government. The HAM has demanded the formation of a coordination committee for the NDA.

Manjhi demanded a caste-based census on Friday. Manjhi tweeted from his official Twitter account, "Census of the country is necessary in the present situation but due to Covid-19 pandemic, the census work has been put on hold. Why avoid caste-based census when elections are held in the country?"

The HAM Chief wrote demanding that the government must start a 10-year census along with a caste-based census without any further delay.

Earlier, Manjhi had put pressure on the Central government by demanding a special status for Bihar.

VIP Chief and cabinet minister, Mukesh Sahani, has advised the NDA government to stop internal feuds but has raised the promise of providing employment to 19 lakh people in Bihar.

Sahani tweeted from his official Twitter account, "Requesting all NDA colleagues to refrain from making unnecessary rhetorical statements. All of us must come together with the people of Bihar and work on the promise of generating 19 lakh jobs."

The VIP Chief has written to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanding return of the money taken from the members of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.

Sahani wrote in his letter that since 2020 till now the development work for the people in each area has come to a standstill. Now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced to give vaccines free to the states, the Chief Minister should give power to the MLAs to use the amount of the voluntary fund under the regional development head so that the latter will be able to do development work in their areas and help to improve medical facilities.

In view of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Nitish Kumar government has taken Rs 2 crore each from the funds of MLAs and MLCs.

However, after the demands made by the smaller NDA allies, problems have increased for the Bihar government. The opposition Grand Alliance has also been targeting the NDA government raking up these issues. Now the NDA is in a dilemma after many questions were raised by the parties which are part of the government.