Headlines
Manjhi quits, claims threat to life
Embattled Bihar Chief Minister
Jitan Ram Manjhi Friday dramatically resigned just ahead of a floor
test, the move coming despite the BJP extending support to him.
Manjhi said that he did not get respect as chief minister.
"I
have submitted my resignation letter to the governor. I should have
quit before," said Manjhi soon after he met Governor Keshri Nath
Tripathi here Friday.
He claimed that he as well as some legislators had received threats to their lives.
An official told IANS that Manjhi met the governor ahead of a trust vote he faced later in the day.
Manjhi
was picked by former chief minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar as his
replacement when he quit last year after JD-U's rout in the Lok Sabha
polls.
In the 243-member assembly, the JD-U has 115 legislators -
most of whom are with Nitish Kumar. The party has the support of 24
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislators, five Congress MLAs, two
Independents and a CPI MLA.
The BJP has 88 legislators and is supported by three Independents.
Nitish Kumar was quick to react on Manjhi's resignation and said: "Our stand has been vindicated."
He told reporters that the "BJP game plan has been exposed".
Manjhi
said that he had requested Governor Tripathi to hold a secret ballot
and "in that case, I would have had the support of 40-50 JD-U
legislators".
But, since "I realised that secret ballot may not
happen, a lot of legislators would have lost their membership if it
would have been known that they had voted for me, that's why I decided
to quit".
Manjhi maintained that "quite a few MLAs had met him in the night and pledged support to him".
He accused JD-U of "horse-trading", an euphemism for driving a hard bargain to ensure adequate numbers in a floor test.
On
Thursday, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that the BJP decided to
support Manjhi during the confidence vote in the assembly Friday.
"After
a long meeting of the BJP legislators, the party has decided to support
Manjhi during his confidence vote in the assembly," Modi had said.
JD-U
spokesperson K.C. Tyagi Friday told IANS that Janata Dal-United (JD-U)
has the majority in Bihar and the "governor will call Nitish Kumar by
today evening or latest by tomorrow to prove his majority".
The
fast paced political development took place a day after Speaker Uday
Narain Choudhary notified JD-U leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary as leader of
opposition, replacing Nand Kishore Yadav of the BJP which will support
Manjhi during the confidence vote.
The speaker accepted Nitish Kumar's demand that JD-U be given the status of the main opposition party.
Manjhi,
after being expelled from the JD-U Feb 9, has been declared as an
unattached member in the assembly. He was expelled for allegedly
"indulging in anti-party activities".