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Manjhi gets cold feet, Nitish back as CM

Nitish  Kumar, who will take oath on Sunday as Bihar’s chief minister, was invited by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Friday after former’s protégé-turned rebel Jitan Ram Manjhi resigned from the CM’s post minutes before the scheduled floor test. According to sources in the rebel camp, Manjhi decided to put in his papers after he anticipated that even with 87 BJP MLAs in the kitty, the magic number was not achievable as legislators of JD(U) and RJD were in no mood to defect. Governor has asked Kumar to prove his majority in the House on March 16.

Speaking about the composition of new alliance government, a senior JD(U) leader said, “Since it will be a coalition government, the party is planning to offer Deputy CM post to RJD, which has 24 MLAs in the assembly.” Speculations are also rife that lawmakers of Congress party would also be inducted into the government.

On the numerical strength of the cabinet, sources said, “The new cabinet will be small and focus on good governance . Some new faces would also be inducted into the cabinet, while ex-ministers loyal to Kumar would be retained.”

While taking out a leaf out of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar has also admitted that he committed a mistake by resigning as the CM of Bihar and has apologised to the people for it. Speaking to reporters after the high-voltage drama culminated with Manjhi’s resignation on Friday, Kumar said, “I accept my mistake for stepping down as CM. I seek apology from people of Bihar for this mistake.”

However, Kumar while coming down heavily on both Manjhi and BJP, said, “The BJP’s game plan has failed.”
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