Nitish Kumar names Jitan Ram Manjhi as new Bihar CM

The Janata Dal (United) on Monday announced the name of former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's close aide Jitan Ram Manjhi as the new hief minister of Bihar.

"All I have to say is the issue that we had taken up has been successful," said Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav.

Manjhi served as the SC/ST welfare minister of the state in the Nitish Kumar government.

Earlier in the day, Kumar had said that he would not reconsider his decision and withdraw his resignation. He wanted the Janata Dal (United) to elect a new leader this vening. "I am not reconsidering my decision to withdraw my resignation My decision has not been taken in a wave of emotion; it was my moral responsibility to take this ecision and I want to request the people to understand this," he said.

Party MLAs yesterday unanimously chose Kumar as their leader and insisted that he withdraw his resignation, but Nitish refused. He sought a day's time to decide on the atter.

After the meeting here, JD (U) General Secretary Anjani Kumar said that party's MLA want Nitish to continue as chief minister.

Kumar had stepped down from the top post on Saturday after taking moral responsibility for the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

He has not recommended dissolution of the assembly, this leaving a window for formation of a new government, if any other party cobbles up majority in the 243-member ouse.

The JD-U won only two parliamentary seats out of 40 in Bihar while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) cornered 31 seats. Modi's JP won 282 seats, 10 more than the majority required to rule.