1st LD Writethru: chief minister of India's Bihar state resigns

The chief minister of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, on Friday resigned from his post, just hours ahead of a test of strength in the assembly.

The 70-year-old chief minister, who hails from an under- priviledged community, met Bihar's Governor K.N. Tripathi at his official residence in the morning and submitted his resignation.

Manjhi has been running a minority government for the past two weeks with 12 legislators, after being expelled by the Janata Dal (United) party for refusing to allow Nitish Kumar's return as chief minister.

Kumar stepped down last year in the wake of the party's poor performance in the general elections held last year and handed over the chief ministership to Manjhi.

But when he recently wanted to stage a comeback, his successor refused to make way for him, creating a rift in the party which has been the ruling party.

Experts say that the Manjhi government's chances of winning the trust vote in the assembly was next to impossible as he has the support of only 12 Janata Dal (United) legislators and three independents.

Though India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, with 87 legislators, had announced their support, even then his government would have fallen short of majority of 117 members in the 243- member assembly.

Kumar, on the other hand, said he has the support of 128 members, and blamed the BJP for creating a crisis in the state, a charge denied by the saffron outfit. Endi