No President's rule, will win trust vote on Feb 20: Manjhi

Accuses Nitish Kumar's camp of trying to 'frighten MLAs' by spreading rumours

Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today alleged that Nitish Kumar's camp was trying to "frighten MLAs" by spreading rumours that he was "conspiring" with BJP to have President's Rule imposed in Bihar and accused his rival of parading "bogus" MLAs.

Manjhi, who was expelled by the JD(U) after he refused to resign, said it was for BJP to decide if it wanted to support him or not and he had met Union ministers and Bihar Governor here for official work.

He said JD(U) and Kumar, who has staked claim to form the government in Bihar, were spreading rumours that President's Rule will be imposed in Bihar to win over MLAs and said he had no such intentions.

"They are frightening MLAs with rumour that I am working for imposing the President's Rule in Bihar. It's completely untrue. If I had wished so, I would have recommended it long back. I will win trust vote on February 20," he told reporters, saying he has urged every party to support him.

Asked about Kumar's claims that he had support of 130 MLAs, whom he had paraded when he went to meet Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi and President Pranab Mukherjee, Manjhi shot back, "Many of these MLAs were bogus."

Manjhi's aides said he was in the city to attend meetings, including those related to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's ongoing visit as Bihar is a key centre for Buddhism.

JD(U) had yesterday alleged that Manjhi was working at the BJP behest and wanted imposition of the President's Rule.

Congress too has attacked BJP accusing it of conspiring to destablise the JD(U) government.

"There is no crisis in Bihar. It's a conspiracy and the fountainhead of this conspiracy is BJP," party leader Manish Tewari said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, however, rejected the charge, saying Janata Dal (United) was "Janata Dal divided" and the party was blaming BJP for its "blunders".