Patna: Amid political standoff in Bihar, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Wednesday night stepped in and asked Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to prove majority on the floor of the Assembly on February 20. JDU has expelled Manjhi from the party and the Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary has declared him non attached member of the assembly.
Manjhi had met the Governor on Monday and made a claim that he will prove majority on the floor of House if given an opportunity.
On the other hand taking the political crisis in the state to Delhi, former Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal United leader Nitish Kumar, who was elected leader of JDU Legislative party on Monday, met President Pranab Mukherjee earlier in Wednesday evening to convey the support of 130 MLAs and urged him to advise the state Governor to take an immediate decision claiming that any delay will pollute the atmosphere in the state and encourage "horse trading".
Nitish Kumar, who was accompanied by JDU President Sharad Yadav, RJD leader Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, took the 130 MLAs to the President's House to show that he enjoys majority support in the state Assembly.
Addressing reporters after meeting the President, Nitish alleged that there was "a gameplan to impose President's rule in the state".
"The President heard all the issues and at the end said that we will look into the matter," the former CM said when asked about Mukherjee's reaction.
"There is a clear majority on one side. In Patna, we paraded 130 MLAs and today also they are standing here with me and one can see where the majority is. Despite this, not paving the way for formation of government is an injustice and playing with democracy," the former chief minister said.
Earlier in the day, in a major setback to Nitish Kumar, Patna High Court stayed his election as party's state legislature party leader.
Nitish was elected the leader of the JDU's legislature party leader on Monday and he had met Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to stake claim to form government.
Kumar arrived in national capital from Patna on Tuesday evening, along with the MLAs supporting him, in two commercial flights.
He had staked claim before Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on February 9 to form a government even though incumbent Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has been sacked from the party, insisted that he too enjoyed support of a majority of MLAs.
Claiming the support of 130 MLAs, Nitish had even paraded them at Raj Bhavan. He had requested the Governor to invite him to prove his majority on the floor of the House.
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