Samrat Choudhary met Jitan Ram Manjhi amid seat-sharing buzz in the NDA.

Patna, August 9, 2025: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary met Union MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi at his residence in Patna on Saturday amid speculation over seat-sharing tensions within the NDA.

Sources said Manjhi is unhappy with the alliance’s seat-sharing formula and had skipped the August 8 foundation stone-laying ceremony of Maa Janaki temple in Sitamarhi, attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Jitan Ram Manjhi’s absence has fueled political chatter.

Close-door meeting between Samrat Choudhary and Jitan Ram Manjhi:

The closed-door meeting between these two leaders, also attended by Nitish Cabinet Minister and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Kumar Suman, reportedly focused on the upcoming Bihar Assembly election and seat distribution.

Manjhi has demanded 40 seats for his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and is unwilling to accept fewer than 20 seats, insisting his party deserves proper representation based on its mass base in Bihar.

Despite reports of discontent, Manjhi downplayed any rift, saying, “There is no conflict here; everything is more or less decided regarding how many seats each party will receive. Whoever gets the seats will have to be content with the allocation—there is no question of dispute, especially in the larger interest. Bihar needs an NDA government.”

Manjhi and Choudhary discussed on PM’s upcoming visit to Gaya:

The two leaders also discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Gayaji on August 22, with deliberations on whether Belaganj, Wazirganj or another location would be most suitable for the program.

HAM contested 7 seats in Bihar’s assembly election 2020 and won 4 of them. During the by-poll of Imamganj, its candidate Deepa Manjhi won the contest.

As the party has a good stronghold among the Mahadalit community in Bihar, especially in the Gaya region, he is bargaining more in this election, citing an impressive strike rate in 2020.

Also Read: Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha met in Delhi amid NDA seat-sharing talks.

EOM.