Putting an end to days of speculation and political uncertainty, Jitan Ram Manjhi resigned as chief minister of Bihar on Friday hours before seeking a trust vote in the Assembly.
Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi later invited Nitish Kumar to form a government and the swearing-in ceremony will be held on Sunday evening.
On a day laced with high political activity, Manjhi stunned everyone in the morning when he went to Raj Bhavan instead of the Assembly.
After the 15-minute meeting with the governor, it was officially announced that Manjhi had tendered his resignation and that he will not go to the Assembly.
An hour later, Manjhi appeared before the media and asserted that though he commanded the support of 140 members, including those from the BJP, he still preferred to quit fearing bloodshed on the Assembly premises.
“Had voting taken place through secret ballot, I would have got support of 140 members. But the Speaker was behaving in a partisan manner where he denied recognition to Rajiv Ranjan, our chief whip. And then he removed the BJP as the main Opposition party and recognised the JD(U) as the principal Opposition party,” said Manjhi.
Sources close to Manjhi said his fate was sealed on Thursday when the Patna High Court debarred dissident JD-U MLAs from voting during the confidence motion.
Even the BJP’s whole-hearted support could not tilt the situation in Manjhi’s favour.
As the news of Manjhi’s resignation reached the Assembly, the Speaker adjourned the House sine die.
The governor later invited Nitish for an interaction where the JD-U strongman was asked to take oath on February 22.
“The governor has asked me to take oath as chief minister on Sunday evening. He has given me three weeks time to prove my majority,” said Nitish.
