By Kumar Uttam/New Delhi

Senior Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar seems set to return as Bihar chief minister with incumbent Jitan Ram Manjhi failing to secure unconditional support from the Bharatiya Janata Party that remains unsure about his numbers for the February 20 trust vote.
Manjhi, sources say, may resign before the confidence motion is put to vote - as then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did in 1996.
BJP strategists feel allowing Nitish Kumar to take over serves their interests better than Manjhi continuing.
“We have already exposed Nitish Kumar’s hunger for power at the cost of a Mahadalit leader. Even if we were to support the Manjhi government, he wouldn’t be able to deliver much and it may backfire on us. Even Nitish can’t deliver anything in such a short time,” a senior BJP leader said.
The beleaguered chief minister needs the support of 117 legislators to prove a majority in the assembly that has an effective strength of 233.
But the BJP, with 87 legislators, is not sure if Manjhi can cobble together the other 31 votes.
Moreover, Governor K N Tripathi did not allow the Mahadalit leader to expand his council of ministers, an exercise that could have helped the beleaguered chief minister gather more numbers.
For the record though, the BJP kept its cards close to its chest, saying it would announce its strategy on the floor of the house.
“We will sit in opposition whether Manjhi remain the CM or someone else,” BJP’s legislative party leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.
The state was thrown into a crisis earlier this month after Manjhi was expelled from the JD(U) for refusing to step down to enable his former mentor to return as chief minister.
The JD(U) has 111 legislators, around a 100 of whom are said to be with Nitish Kumar.
BJP leaders in New Delhi seemed reconciled to Nitish Kumar’s return, saying Manjhi would get more sympathy by becoming a martyr.
BJP strategists said the party had already received whatever Mahadalit vote advantage it could get after Nitish Kumar publicly attacked Manjhi, whom BJP’s Bihar leader Sushil Modi had described as a Dalit icon.
“Manjhi has already made several announcements like reservation to scheduled castes in government tenders, quota for poor upper caste in government jobs. Nitish has hardly anything left to consolidate his position among the SCs,” a BJP leader in New Delhi said.
The populist announcements, though, caused the Patna High Court to restrain Manjhi’s government from announcing any major policy decisions until the trust vote.
Sources said the BJP’s alliance partner Ramvilas Paswan - a Dalit leader who heads the Lok Janshakti Party - was averse to the BJP backing the Manjhi government. The chief minister recently made overtures to the Paswans - the most influential among the scheduled castes - by including them in the Mahadalit category, a sub-group of 21 out of 23 scheduled castes, which comprise 16% of the state’s population.
The chief minister, however, appeared confident about winning the trust vote, accusing Nitish Kumar of trying to frighten legislators by spreading rumours that Manjhi was “conspiring” with the BJP to have President’s Rule imposed in Bihar.
“I have no intention of recommending house dissolution or pave the way for imposition of President’s Rule,” he said.- Hindustan Times/ Tribune Content Agency