In a huge twist ahead of the vote of confidence, Bihar chief minster Jitan Ram Manjhi has stepped down from the post and asked the Governor to dissolve the assembly with immediate effect.  At 10:30 AM, Manjhi met Bihar Governor at Raj Bhavan and offered his resignation which surprised everyone and on the other hand, the Nitish Kumar supporters started celebrating.

An hour later, Manjhi addressed the media and made severe allegations against pro-Nitish, JD[U] MLAs. “Some of our MLAs got threatening SMSes not to vote in my favour. We were also doubtful of Speaker's actions. We had asked the Governor to hold secret ballot during trust vote but he expressed his inability to do so. If secret voting was not held, our MLAs would have faced death threat. Some of the JD(U) MLAs were planning to resort to violence in Assembly during trust vote. Keeping all this in mind, I handed over my resignation to Governor,” said Manjhi.

This was a huge embarrassment for the BJP as it came forward to support Manjhi. The legislators of BJP held protest outside Bihar Assembly over Manjhi resignation. Meanwhile, senior JD[U] MLAs are likely to approach Governor and to stake claims for the government formation.

- TVR