New Delhi: The Patna High Court on Wednesday declared the Janata Dal-United meeting in which Nitish Kumar was elected as the leader of the Legislative Party as illegal.
The PIL against the appointment had been reportedly filed by Rajeshwar Raj, one of Manjhi's supporters.
The High Court termed the Speaker nominating Nitish Kumar as the JD(U) legislative party head as illegal.
Kumar was elected the leader of the JDU's legislature party leader on Monday and he had met Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to stake claim to form government.
The verdict is a big setback for Nitish who has flown all his supporting MLAs from the JD-U, RJD, Congress and the Left to New Delhi. Nitish has sought a meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee to pressurise Bihar Governor K N Tripathi to invite him to form the government. A delegation of 15 leaders, including Nitish, JD-U chief Sharad Yadav, RJD president Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is expected to meet Pranab later on Wednesday.
Sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan said the President will decide on Wednesday on Kumar's plea to present supporting MLAs before him. Nitish said he was forced to take the MLAs to the national capital to present them before Mukherjee as Tripathi had not taken any decision.
Refusing to resign as Chief Minister, a defiant Manjhi has claimed that he still enjoys the support of a majority of MLAs while Nitish has demanded that either the Governor call him to prove his majority or Manjhi. Manjhi has also sought a trial of strength by secret vote in the Assembly.
