Patna: Nitish Kumar on Monday chose senior minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to succeed him as Bihar Chief Minister, who would stake claim to form the government. The 68-year-old Manjhi, a dalit leader, was SC & ST minister in the Nitish Kumar government. The JD(U) has staked claim to form the government in the state under Manjhi, Kumar said. Manjhi’s name, he said, has the approval of JD(U) President Sharad Yadav as well state party chief Basistha Narayan Singh.
“We have staked claim before Governor D Y Patil to form the government under leadership of Jitan Ram Manjhi,” outgoing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters outside Raj Bhawan.
He said “We have handed over a list of support of 117 JD(U) MLAs, 2 Independents and 1 CPI member totalling 120 to the Governor for formation of the new government.” Asked for the reason for choosing Manjhi as his successor, Kumar said “he is experienced and his contribution to the party is immense.”
The effective strength of the House at present is 239. JD(U) has 117 members, BJP 90, RJD 21, Congress 4 and others including Independents 1 CPI member 7.
The four-member Congress, which voted for the Nitish Kumar government in the trust motion in June last year has authorised party High Command to decide on the future course of action.
Earlier, Nitish Kumar refused to take back his resignation despite repeated pleas by JD(U) legislators to continue in office.
Bihar JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh told newsmen after a crucial meeting of the JD(U) legislature party here that it was decided that Kumar would continue to lead the party and coordinate between the party and the state government.
Time was sought from Governor D Y Patil this evening and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, Kumar and he would go to the Raj Bhawan, Singh said. On the JD(U)LP meeting, the second on the issue since Sunday, he said the legislators accepted Kumar’s decision to stick to his decision to resign with a heavy heart and authorised him to choose a new leader to head the JD(U) government.
Nitish resignation ‘scripted drama’: BJP, Paswan
Bihar BJP leaders and their ally Ram Vilas Paswan dismissed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s resignation as a “scripted drama” enacted to save his leadership in JD(U) amidst a growing clamour against him within the party.
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan claimed that the JD(U) government will soon collapse and Bihar would see fresh elections in the coming months. “This (resignation) is a drama. His (Kumar’s) leadership is under threat after JD(U) suffered a rout in Bihar,” Paswan told reporters following a meeting with BJP president Rajnath Singh.
LJP won six of the seven Lok Sabha seats it contested in Bihar. The newly-elected BJP MP from Patliputra, Ram Kripal Yadav, also termed the entire Nitish Kumar episode a “drama” and sought fresh elections in the JD(U)-ruled state. Ram Kripal, who had left the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD before the recently-concluded general elections, defeated the latter’s daughter Misa Bharti in the poll battle.
“The entire move of Nitish Kumar tendering resignation was scripted. He is a good actor and has received special training in dramatics.
He uses and throws people out. For him, power is like fish without water,” Ram Kripal said. Later, after meeting top RSS functionaries in the national capital, Ram Kripal told reporters, “It is a drama… going as per a script. Let us see what happens.” Asked whether BJP will try and form a government in Bihar, he said, “In the coming days, BJP and NDA will form the government. The people have given mandate to BJP. The era of regional parties has ended. RJD, JD(U), their time has ended.”
Earlier, former Home Secretary RK Singh, who won a parliamentary seat from Ara in Bihar on a BJP ticket, also met RSS officials in New Delhi and said that the Bihar government is in “coma” and on its “deathbed”.
“Nitish Kumar has not had cordial relations with big leaders and there is so much dissent. I had earlier also said that this was all a drama. This drama is being done to counter the dissent,” Singh said. (PTI)