Bihar Trust Vote: BJP Decides to Vote for Chief Minister Jitan Manjhi

Asked if this decision may give trouble to the BJP later, the party's Sushil Modi said, "At the moment we are not thinking about the future. We are only looking at tomorrow, and how to ensure that Nitish Kumar's insult to a Mahadalit is not taken lying down."

The Janata Dal United, or JD(U), has decided to boycott the Governors' Speech ahead of the trust vote to protest against his decision to read a speech prepared by a minority government.  The legislators have decided to sit it out in the Assembly lawns and during the trust vote, they will keep their faces covered.

Mr Manjhi will need 117 votes today to remain Chief Minister. He has 12 lawmakers from the JD(U) in his camp and is counting on the support of three Independents. So even with the support of the BJP, he is poorly placed to win the trust.

Mr Manjhi has been expelled from the JD(U), which governs Bihar, and which decided earlier this month that he should step down to allow the return of Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister. But he has refused to resign. Nitish Kumar is confident he has 128 votes, which would make him Chief Minister.

The Bihar Assembly Speaker on Thursday accepted the JD(U)'s demand that it should now be the chief Opposition instead of the BJP, since the Chief Minister is no longer in the party and it will vote against him on Friday. The JD(U)'s Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is now Leader of Opposition instead of the BJP's Nand Kishore Yadav.

On Thursday evening Mr Manjhi controversially said in a public address, "You want to become a minister, come to me." It is seen as his effort to show that he is being victimised because he is Mahadalit, one of the state's poorest castes.

The support of Mahadalits is vital for political parties in Bihar and the BJP is playing the same card. It wants to project itself as a party that has backed a Mahadalit leader against the odds because of its commitment to them.

Bihar votes for its next government later this year. The JD(U) wants Mr Kumar, 63, to be the face of its campaign for the election. The party has allied with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD to take on the BJP.

The BJP and the JD(U) aborted a lengthy alliance at the insistence of Mr Kumar ahead of the national election. He was opposed to the BJP's decision to select his arch-rival, then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, as its prime ministerial candidate.

Mr Kumar erred gravely. His party won just two seats in the national election, and he resigned, accepting responsibility for the colossal wipeout. He alleges that Mr Manjhi's rebellion has been scripted by the BJP to undermine his position.