Friday, November 25 2005 09:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: The nascent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government in Bihar received a jolt barely hours after being sworn in when a cabinet minister Jitan Ram Manjhi resigned in the wake of a controversy over his alleged involvement in a racket in awarding degrees to fake teachers training institutions in the 1990s.

Manjhi, a Janata Dal-United (JD-U) minister, submitted his resignation late last night which was being forwarded to Governor Buta Singh for acceptance, sources in the office of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told sources.

Speaking to reporters this morning before leaving for Gaya, Manjhi said he had tendered his resignation following a 'conspiracy' against him within the party though he was 'not even remotely' connected with the scam.

"I have resigned voluntarily and the Chief Minister did not ask me to quit", he said adding, "I have no grievance against the chief minister. I have quit as I want the NDA government to have a clean image".

Asked why did he joined the cabinet in the first place, Manjhi said, "I had not thought the matter will become so serious despite my innocence".

According to the FIR registered by the state vigilance department in 1999, the fraud involved senior officials of the National Council for Teachers' Education (NCTE), a government body formed in 1995, to grant recognition to teachers' training institutes, senior bureaucrats in the education department and politicians, including Manjhi, who was the minister of state for education at that time.