PATNA: Nitish Kumar quit as Bihar Chief Minister on Wednesday, saying it was becoming difficult for him to work under the present circumstances amid allegations of scam being levelled against Tejashwi Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav and also Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. 
 He was leading Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) coalition government in Bihar since November 2015. The coalition government had been rocked by allegations of corruption against Tejashwi and other members of Lalu Prasad’s family. 
Mr. Kumar met Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at Raj Bhavan in the evening and submitted his resignation. The Governor accepted his resignation and requested him to continue till alternative arrangements were made. 
Addressing mediapersons, Mr. Kumar said that his commitment was towards the people of Bihar and for securing justice and development for them. The JD(U)-RJD coalition ran into rough weather as allegations of corruption, scam and amassing of property surfaced against RJD supremo and former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family, including Tejashwi Yadav who was Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. 
Nitish Kumar said that he had met the Lalu-Rabri duo as well as Tejashwi. He said that he had asked Tejashwi to explain and come out clean. He said that it was becoming difficult to work under such circumstances and there was nothing much he could do. 
He said that he had been criticised for supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation decision last year. He said that he had taken Bihar on the road of social transformation by enforcing liquor ban and had been a crusader against corruption. 
Prime Minister Modi was quick to tweet his reaction to Mr. Kumar’s resignation. In a tweet, the PM congratulated Nitish Kumar for joining hands in the fight against corruption. He said that 125 crore citizens of India have welcomed the honest step taken by Mr. Kumar. Mr. Modi said that for the country’s and Bihar’s bright future, it was necessary to rise above party affiliations in the fight against corruption. 
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who also hails from Bihar welcomed the principled stand taken by Mr. Kumar. He said that Nitish Kumar was very conscious of his clean image and termed the JD(U)-RJD coalition as one based on fear and inequality. 
JD(U) leader K. C. Tyagi hailed the decision of Mr. Kumar, saying the party wholeheartedly supported it and would fully back him.