Thursday, March 24 2005 14:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Disgruntled over non-formation of a Government in Bihar after the Assembly polls, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MLA Monazir Hassan today (Mar 24, 2005) said that if a Government was not installed within 100 days of declaration of results, 18 MLAs, including himself, would resign from the house.

"At least 18 MLAs, six each from JD-U and Lok Janashakti Party (LJP), besides Independents, are willing to quit the Assembly if a popular Government is not formed within 100 days of declaration of results and go to the electorate for a fresh mandate," Hassan said. The results were declared on February 27.

The JD-U MLA from Munger, who was a Minister in the Rabri Devi Government before joining JD-U, claimed that 18 legislators recently had a meeting where they decided to try speed up the process of Government formation and tender resignations if their efforts did not yield positive results.

He, however, refused to divulge the names of other MLAs.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to face the voters as they accuse us of having failed to form a Government. After all, elections are not held for imposition of President's rule. People want their representatives to be at the helm of governance," he said.

In an apparent dig at LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan, Hassan said that the mandate, though fractured, was against RJD. "Our leader Nitish Kumar is the tallest Opposition politician in Bihar and he should have been the natural choice for Chief Ministership but some politicians pushed the State to President's rule only to deny him (Kumar) his due," he said.