With just one day left for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to resign from the State’s Legislative Council, senior leaders of his Janata Dal (United) party rushed to his official residence in Patna to hold closed-door meetings, amidst pleas from a section of the party for Mr. Kumar to remain in Bihar, and a lack of clarity regarding his potential successor.
Mr. Kumar secured a Rajya Sabha seat through an election held on March 16. According to the rules, he is required to resign from his seat in the State legislature — and step down from the Chief Minister’s post — within 14 days of being elected to Parliament. Two days ago, Bihar Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar had noted that the Bihar CM still had time to resign, till March 30.
Nitish Kumar’s political journey: From rebellion to longest-serving CM
The leaders who met with Mr. Kumar at the CM’s official residence on Sunday included Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bihar Rural Work Minister Ashok Choudhary, JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha, and several MLAs, including Mokama MLA Anant Singh.
JD(U) workers plead with Nitish to stay
