Patna, Aug 9 (IANS): RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav praised Nitish Kumar, who submitted his resignation as Chief Minister on Tuesday, for his "bold decision" to come out from the NDA.

"The BJP was conspiring against JD-U and trying to weaken Nitish Kumar. BJP did the same in Maharashtra and Punjab and it was doing the same in Bihar to destroy the JD-U. He took the bold decision and left the NDA," Tejashwi said after returning from Raj Bhavan with Nitish Kumar and other leaders of the Mahagathbandhan, where they staked a claim to form a government.

"We are socialist people and we are capable of carrying our legacy. We are united on several issues like caste-based census in the past. Nitish Kumar is the most experienced Chief Minister of the country. The decision of becoming prime ministerial candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha election would be his own decision," he added.

On his part, Nitish Kumar said: "After the result of the 2020 Assembly election of Bihar, our party had won only 43 seats and I wasn't ready to become the Chief Minister. When I was ruling in coalition with BJP, its leaders were saying many things which I did not like. Hence, I resigned from the post of Chief Minister."

"Now, we will form the government with Mahagathbandhan and we have the support of 165 MLAs. The Mahagathbandhan comprises 7 political parties. So we will run the government with the support of seven parties in Bihar.

"We have staked claim before Governor Phagu Chauhan to form a new government in Bihar. We have also handed over the list of 165 MLAs before him," he said.

Sources have said that Nitish Kumar wants a swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday. Now, it's up to the Governor to decide and invite Nitish Kumar to become Chief Minister of Bihar for the eight time.