Bihar crisis: Nitish to show his strength before President

New Delhi: Political crisis in Bihar has deepened further in after the expulsion of its chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from JD(U) for anti-party activities and the demand for a new CM from the JD(U) leaders has only gotten stronger. 

Nitish Kumar, who was elected the new JD(U) Legislature Party leader in place of Manjhi, met governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Feb. 9 to stake claim to form government.

Kumar, former Bihar chief minister, was upset over the ‘delay’ by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in defusing the political crisis and on Tuesday arrived in Delhi along with 130 MLAs as a show of support to President Pranab Mukherjee to stake claim to form a new government. 

Kumar, speaking to mediapersons, said the delay on part of the Governor vitiates the atmosphere and promotes horse-trading. 

“The delay should not have happened. We have staked our claim for government formation and given everything in writing to the Governor. We want that Constitutional values should be upheld and no wrong measures should be adopted for government formation,” Kumar added.

Kumar is supposed to meet the President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday at 2.15 PM.

Kumar, who landed in Delhi with his 130 supporting MLAs in two commercial flights, is accompanied by the supporting MLAs of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Communist and independents.

Manjhi, who also met the Governor on February 9, has refuted Kumar’s claim and claimed of having majority in the 243 member assembly. 

Manjhi also demanded for a secret vote in the assembly to prove his strength.