Bihar Governor K N Tripathi refuses to talk over timeframe given to Jitan Ram Manjhi

PATNA: Bihar Governor K N Tripathi today refused to join issue with JD(U) leaders over the timeframe given to Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to prove his majority in the House on February 20, saying he had already clarified his stand.

"Ek bar jawab de diya so de diya...bar bar jawab nahin diya jata hai (I have replied these questions already...I need not repeat the same)," he told PTI over phone from Kanpur.

Tripathi had earlier defended his decision to fix February 20 for Manjhi to prove his majority on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, immediately after his address to the joint session of the House.

The Governor had said that he had taken into account constitutional provisions and Supreme Court rulings before taking the decision.

On former chief minister Nitish Kumar's charge that he had not heeded the request to give Manjhi less time (about 48 hours) to prove his majority, Tripathi said that he needed time to study constitutional provisions and the Supreme Court rulings to arrive at a decision.

The Governor urged the people not to get misled by insinuation against him.