PATNA/SAHARSA: For the first time since he was hand-picked by former Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to helm the government in his place on May 20 last year, a rebellious Jitan Ram Manjhi tried to shame Kumar calling him “Bhishma Pitamah” who was silently watching attempts to oust a Dalit chief minister.“Aar paar ki ladai shuru ho gayee hai… I am not going to sit idle, come what may,” Manjhi said at a religious function in Gheena village in Saharsa district. Bhishma, in Mahabharata, was a great hero who lost his sheen after he watched idly as the Kaurava brothers disrobed Pandavas’ wife Draupadi. Only difference, Manjhi said, was, “Nitish is himself pulling the strings from behind the scene to humiliate me.”Manjhi’s declaration of war soon degenerated into ugly clashes between his and Kumar’s supporters at the JD(U) office and the streets of the state capital. Manjhi’s men gheraoed JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav , forcing him to say he was not against Manjhi as the CM.Fearing Manjhi might recommend the dissolution of the House and continue as caretaker CM until the elections in October-November, Sharad is believed to have written to the governor urging him not to entertain any recommendation for dissolution. “The letter says Manjhi doesn’t enjoy majority support,” JD(U) secretary general K C Tyagi told TOI.Political observers said at least five ministers are supporting Manjhi. “There’s no quorum required for a cabinet meeting. If the CM decides to recommend dissolution, he can just convene a meeting of the cabinet, get the decision approved, and write to the governor,” one minister said.Manjhi is leaving Patna for Delhi on Saturday to attend NITI Ayog meet on Sunday while a JD(U) legislature party meeting called by Sharad is to take place in Patna at 4pm on Saturday.The meeting has been declared “illegal” by Manjhi “as only the CM has the prerogative to call a legislature party meeting”. He has called a legislature party meeting on February 20.The ruling party has 111 party MLAs and 41 MLCs. It remains to be seen whether or not they’ll all turn up for the Saturday meeting.“Nitish should have told me if I was doing anything against the party line,” said Manjhi. “Instead, his spokesmen are speaking on his behalf. It’s a war on the forces indulging in corruption, which I will fight tooth-and-nail. If my MLAs tell me on Feb 20 that I have committed any wrong, I will resign,” Manjhi thundered, dropping hints that he might take the issue to the floor of the House.Manjhi camp claimed support of 31 MLAs with few others in the wait-and-watch mode. The role of JD (U)’s 25-odd dalit and mahadalit MLAs would be crucial as Manjhi has sought to carve out a constituency of these sections for himself.“We won’t attend the meeting convened by Sharad. Instead, the governor will ask the CM to prove his majority on the floor of the House if the anti-Manjhi camp approaches him,” said rural development minister Nitish Mishra.Political observers said the Sharad-Nitish camp should wisely factor in Manjhi camp’s aggression as well as the possible support of 87 BJP MLAs to him if need be, before deciding the next course of action.“It’s for the first time that two factions of the JD(U) have taken out swords against each other ever since the party came to power in 2005,” one of them said. JD(U) state president Bashisth Narain Singh has threatened disciplinary action against those skipping the Saturday meet.Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi sacked two pro-Nitish ministers, P K Shahi and Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lallan’ on Friday. The CM is learnt to have sent the recommendation for their dismissal to governor Kesari Nath Tripathi.