Nitish Kumar invited to sworn in as CM on February 22
Meanwhile, Kumar promised good governance once he takes over as chief minister and apologised for his decision to quit last year after his party's rout in the Lok Sabha elections.
"I want to assure the people of Bihar that if I get an opportunity again I will serve them in the same spirit I did for eight and a half year. Good governance was and will remain my priority. I also apologise for my decision to quit. I will never take an emotional decision again. Now I am ready to lead from the front," Kumar told reporters soon after Manjhi resigned.
he 243-member Bihar assembly, the JD(U) has 115 legislators--most of whom are with Kumar. The party also has the support of 24 RJD legislators, 5 Congress MLAs, 2 Independents and 1 CPI MLA. The BJP has 88 legislators and is supported by 3 Independents.
Nitish had staked claim over 10 days ago after JD(U) replaced Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi with him as leader of the legislature Party. Rejecting Manjhi's allegations against him, the former Bihar chief minister said he worked at BJP's behest and resigned because all "tricks" to break JD(U) failed.
"What BJP has done is a cruel joke with democracy. The horse (Manjhi) refused to run before the race. He had called for Budget Session today but ran away without facing the House. They left no attempt to split our party but our MLAs stood together like a rock. "All immoral works were being done on the prodding of BJP," he said.
In an apparent dig at Manjhi for allegedly playing the 'dalit card', Kumar said his work for the welfare of dalits and mahadalits was well known.
"It was me who coined the term mahadalit to provide more assistance to the poorest and deprived among weaker section(of society) to come above. Just being born in one such caste does not make a person a champion of the dalits and mahadalits," he said.
