Jitan Ram Manjhi congratulates Nitish Kumar, says 'no plans of joining BJP'

 Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Saturday refuted reports of joining the Bharatiya Janata Party and extended his best wishes to former boss and senior JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar for his swearing-in ceremony.

"I extend my greetings to Nitish ji for the swearing-in ceremony. I will attend if I am invited," said Manjhi.

"There is no truth in that (on joining the BJP), we will decide our future course on 28th. I avoided a lot of bad things for Bihar by just resigning," he added. Manjhi, who stepped down as the Chief Minister yesterday, alleged that his legislators and ministers were given death threats ahead of the trust vote.

He also hit out at Nitish for remaining a silent spectator to the entire episode and accused him of trying to remote control his government. Nitish, who met Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi yesterday and staked his claim to form the next government in the state, will take oath as the Chief Minister on February 22. This will be his fourth stint as the Chief Minister.