Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM has four MLAs in the 243-member state assembly.
Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) on Tuesday extended unconditional support to Nitish Kumar and the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan minutes after Nitish Kumar tendered his resignation as the state chief minister.
Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Kumar submitted his resignation to Governor Phagu Chauhan. After resigning, Nitish Kumar said Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the JD(U) were not in favour of continuing the party's alliance with the BJP.
Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM has four MLAs in the 243-member state assembly. JD(U) has 45 MLAs while the RJD has 79. The BJP has 77 legislators in the House.
Nitish Kumar then left for the residence of RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav's wife Rabri Devi in Patna to hold talks with Tejashwi Yadav, who, it is speculated, could again get the deputy chief minister's post if a new coalition government if formed.
Before this, JD(U) parliamentary board president Upendra Kushwaha shared a congratulatory message for Nitish Kumar for "assuming leadership of a new coalition in a new form".
"March ahead Nitish ji. The country is waiting for you," Upendra Kushwaha added in the tweet.
Rohini Yadav, Lalu Yadav's daughter, had also posted a tweet confirming the renewal of ties of the two top veterans of Bihar's politics. "Get ready for the coronation, those with the lantern are set to return," Rohini Yadav tweeted along with a video amid a separate meeting of the Mahagathbandan MLAs.
Earlier, in the JD(U) meeting today, all MLAs and MPs of the party supported Nitish Kumar's decision and said that they were with him. They also asserted that they will continue to support Kumar in his decision.
Meanwhile, Congress and Left party leaders and MLAs also converged today at the residence of Rabri Devi here for a meeting convened by the opposition RJD.
BJP leader and Union minister R K Singh, however, questioned Kumar's move and said there was only hunger for power behind the decision. How would Nitish Kumar explain his tie-up with the RJD, which he has accused of being "corrupt", asked R K Singh.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)