Nitish Kumar Becomes The CM of Bihar For The Fourth Time

Nitish Kumar of JDU has been sworn-in as the CM of Bihar for the fourth time today. Governor KN Tripathi administered the oath of office and secrecy.  

Kumar was invited to from the government after Jitan Manjhi resigned before the trust vote on Friday. Kumar told the media that his decision to step down from the post of CM last year following a massive loss in the general elections was a political mistake. "With folded hands, I apologize to the people of Bihar. Never again will I take such a step. I am ready to lead from the front."

The new cabinet comprises of 22 ministers: the two ministers who were sacked by the ex-CM Manjhi and 20 other who resigned following the difference between Manjhi and Kumar.   

The allies of JDU -RJD, Congress and the Left- have not joined the government at the present moment, but the option has been kept open with 12 vacant ministerial posts.

With Kumar becoming the CM again, the political crisis of the state seems to be subsided for the moment. For how long this political calm in the state goes on is to be seen.

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Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi has resigned from his post today, just a few hours before trust vote on the floor of the assembly. Manjhi submitted his papers to the Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi. The Principal Secretary to the Governor has confirmed the CM's resignation, and said that the resignation letter was a one line statement. 

Manjhi surprised everyone by visiting the Raj Bhawan at 10 this morning. He returned back to his One Anne Marg residence after a 15-minute meeting with the Governor.

Manjhi's sudden decision to quit is seen in the light of his unsuccessful attempt to get the numbers in the house.

After he decided to rebel against his mentor and ex-CM Nitish Kumar, he was expelled from the JDU. He was to prove his majority in the house today. The BJP had announced yesterday that it will support Manjhi; but even with the support the BJP, Manjhi did not have the numbers to prove his majority.

Earlier the Nitish Kumar camp, comprising of JDU, RJD, Congress, CPI MLAs and one Independent legislator had taken a decision to boycott the Governor's speech prior to the joint session of the Bihar Legislature. 

JDU Chief Whip Shrawan Kumar said that the decision to boycott the Governor's speech was JDU effort to register protest against the decision to give Manjhi a 14 days' time - in which he tried his utmost to Horse trade the MLAs- to prove his majority.

Addressing a press conference, Jitan Manjhi said that he resigned because there were 'death threats' and bribe offers to his MLAs, and the speaker did not allow secret ballot for sake of the security of the MLAs.  

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Jitan Manjhi Expelled From The Party, Nitish Claims To Have The Numbers

The JDU has expelled Bihar CM Jitan Manjhi from the party on the charge of being involved in anti-party activity. JDU is trying to get Nitish Kumar reinstated as the CM of Bihar. The ruling party in Bihar has demanded the installation of Bihar government under Kumar within 48 hours.

Nitish Kumar who stepped down from the post of CM following his party's disastrous performance in the general elections last year,  met the Governor KN Triphati today along with the MLAs of RJD and Congress -his allies in the state- and staked his claim to form the government. 

"We have informed the governor about our strength and staked claim. We have the numbers in the assembly," said Kumar. RJD chief Lalu Yadav who also went to meet the Governor along with Kumar said, "We have the numbers in the assembly."

Leaders close to Kumar claim that they have the support of around 130 MLAs. The 243-member house of the state has 233 members right now as 9 legislators have been disqualified and one from the BJP has died of late. Of the 233 MLAs, the JDU has 111, BJP 87, RJD 24, Congress 1, CPI 1, and five MLAs are independent.

Nitish was elected the leader of the JDU legislature party on Saturday. Manjhi left the capital Patna for Delhi on Sunday to participate in the NITI Aayog meeting; the Nitish Kumar camp submitted a letter of support to the Governor's office.

In Delhi, Jitan Manjhi met the PM Modi after the NITI meeting. His meeting with the PM sparkled a wave of speculations about a new political dimension arising in Bihar. On the hand the JDU is alleging that this political turmoil in the state is the brain child of the BJP, as it wants to spark a split in the regional party.

The power struggle in the JDU started to surface some time ago and it turned bitter a week or so back. Not finding the developments in his favor, Manjhi recommended the dissolution of the assembly and termed the party legislature meeting -called by JDU President Sharad Yadav- that sidelined him, unconstitutional. Despite lacking the numbers, Manjhi claims that he would prove majority in the house.  

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Nitish Kumar To Stake Claim To Form Government In Bihar, Manjhi Not Willing To Back Down

Nitish Kumar To Stake Claim To Form Government In Bihar, Manjhi Not Willing To Back Down

After Nitish Kumar was elected the leader of the JDU legislature party yesterday, he is expected to stake his claim to form the new government in Bihar. The current CM of Bihar Jitan Manjhiis not willing to step down to make way for the ex-CM.

Manjhi wrote a letter to the Governor KN Tripathi yesterday, requesting him to not to accept any proposition put forward by the JDU legislature party meeting headed by Sharad Yadav. In his letter he has pointed out that it is the Chief Minister's prerogative to call for the meeting of the party legislators. Manjhi has also recommended that 15 ministers should be removed from their posts with immediate effects.

In the meanwhile, 20 ministers have sent their resignation letters to the Governor to show their support to Kumar.

Bihar seems to be going towards a political crisis as the state cabinet has authorized Manjhi to recommend the dissolution of the state assembly, and the legislature party of the JDU has decided to remove Manjhi from the post of the leader of the legislature party.

In the current political scenario, 97 of the 111 MLAs of the party have elected Nitish Kumar the leader of the legislature party and recommended the removal Manjhi, who was handpicked by Nitish Kumar himself for the post of CM following JDU's devastating performance in the general elections nine months back.

Whatever the outcome of this political dilemma be in Bihar, the state is quite definitely headed for a constitutional crisis; the Governor must be feeling the heat about whether to deploy the state cabinet's recommendation to dissolve the house or let the new legislature party headed by Kumar to try and form a new government in the state that is going for elections in six months’ time.  

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Jitan Manjhi Not Willing To Step Down From CM's Chair, JDU Top-brass Vexed

The noise of dissent in the JDU, the party in power in Bihar, is getting louder every day. More party leaders are now supporting CM Jitan Manjhi's decision of not stepping down from his post.

The party President Sharad Yadav has called for a meeting of JDU's joint legislature party on 7 February, but Manjhi has refused to attend the meeting saying that it is the CM's prerogative to call for such a meeting. The meeting was supposed to convince Manjhi to make way for the former CM Nitish Kumar to be reinstated.  

Parliamentary affairs minister Shrawan Kumar has told the media, “A meeting of JDU legislature party has been called on February 7 on the direction of party president Sharad Yadav.” when asked about the motive of the meeting he said that the meeting will be convened to look into the latest political situation of the state, including the leadership issue, besides other matters of top priority.  

Sharad Yadav met Kumar two times on Thursday, and then went down to meet the CM at his official residence; Yadav spent around an hour or so with Manjhi. It is reportedly said that that Yadav tried to convince Manjhi to step down so that Nitish can be reinstated; Manjhi is said to have refused to resign.     

The sources are saying that the JDU top-brass offered various perks to Manjhi such as including one the family members in the new cabinet, a ticket for his son in the coming assembly elections, an important post for himself in the party organization, but he refused all the propositions.

Sharad Yadav, however, is not willing to accept that any such meeting happened. He emphasizes that the meetings were a part of the preparatory work for the 15 February meeting of the party cadre at the Gandhi Maidan. “I went to Nitish Kumar’s residence to attend a training program of the JDU minority cell. I have already said that Manjhi’s removal is not on the party’s agenda,” he said.

A source of the JDU has said that the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is taking care of the merger of the Janata Parivar,  called Nitish and told him to take over the reins in Bihar and start the preparations for the coming assemble elections.

Sharad Yadav said that he was ignorant of Mulayam talking to Nitish over phone.

The Nitish Kumar camp is of the opinion that Kumar should be reinstated before the commencement of the budget session beginning from 20 February.  

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