Nitish Kumar quits over poor show

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar submitted his resignation to Governor D Y Patil on Saturday, a day after his party Janata Dal (United) suffered a drubbing in the general elections. Soon after Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar Chief Minister, president of his party JD(U) Sharad Yadav on Saturday said his successor would be chosen on Sunday and made it clear that the party will tie-up even with bitter rival RJD for formation of a "secular alliance.”

An official at the Chief Minister’s residence confirmed that Kumar has put in his papers. Since the JD (U) fared poorly in the Lok Sabha election, there was speculation the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar may fall as party legislators would desert him. Kumar has been in the saddle since November 24, 2005, and won a second term in the 2010 assembly elections. The JD (U) won only two of the 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar. In 2009, it won 20 seats in alliance with the BJP. This time, the BJP won 22 seats and its allies, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) won six and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) won three seats. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won four, while its ally Congress bagged two and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) managed to win one seat.