Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav at JD (U) meeting on Sunday
Nitish Kumar's resignation as Bihar Chief Minister is a "tough decision but final", a top leader of his party said today, a day after a dramatic meeting in which legislators refused to accept anybody else as their leader.
"The decision is in the nation's favour, the party's favour and Nitish Kumar's favour. It is a tough decision but final and right," said Sharad Yadav, the chief of Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United or JD (U).
"We have explained it to our party MLAs who opposed it. Our goal is Delhi, not Patna," Mr Yadav added.
On Sunday, after JD (U) legislators chose Mr Kumar as their leader and insisted that he take back his resignation, Mr Kumar said he needed another day to think.
"We want Nitish Kumar to continue as the chief minister," said a legislator, Neeraj Kumar, after a meeting.
Mr Kumar will meet the legislators again this afternoon. Sources close to him say he does not want his resignation to be seen as a political stunt.
The 63-year-old stepped down on Saturday, saying, "I take moral responsibility for the defeat...I should."
The JD (U) won only two of Bihar's 40 seats in the polls that have seen a massive mandate for its former ally, the BJP, with which it parted ways last year when it decided to project Narendra Modi.
The state BJP, which has won 31 seats in Bihar along with its allies, has stepped up its attacks on Mr Kumar. "His resignation has led to political instability. The governor should meet JD(U) legislators and check with each one of them," said BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi, the former deputy Chief Minister.
Many say Mr Kumar quit to preempt a crisis within over defections from the JD (U) to the BJP. Since its split from the BJP, the JD (U) has 114 members of 238 in the state assembly. It been propped up by four Congress members, three Independents and a CPI legislator.