Making his decision public at the Press Conference at his official residence he said that he was dismayed by the neglect of Bihar and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s refusal to give time to state chief minister Nitish Kumar to discuss the issue of grant of special category state status to Bihar.

However, observers are of the view that his resignation has more to do with his re-election to the Council rather than anything else. His present term in the Council is expiring in April and election to Saran graduate constituency seat, which he represents, wiil be held before that. But he denied that his resignation had nothing to do with his election.

He ducked direct question on whether he would be joining Janata Dal (United) or not, but added that he was leaving for his constituency to meet voters and only after taking their views decide his future course of action.

BPCC President Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Qaiser and his predecessor Anil Sharma strongly criticized his action.Qaiser said the resignation was a fallout of the indication given to him that he would not be given the party ticket for contesting the next election from the Saran graduate constituency.

Sharma said that his resignation was a foregone conclusion as he was working for Nitish Kumar in the Congress for a long time. Sharma alleged that Mahachandra had launched a campaign for his ouster from the party post at the behest of Nitish Kumar to stem the desertion of anti-Lalu upper caste votes from the NDA to Congress. His resignation is a positive signal for the revival of the Congress in the state.

Meanwhile, the Congress Legislature Party leader in state Assembly, Sadanand Singh, said that his resignation would not have any adverse impact on the party in the state.

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