Nitish Kumar on Tuesday conceded for the first time making Jitan Ram Manjhi the chief minister of Bihar in his place was a mistake.

It isn't often that politicians admit their mistakes. Certainly not when it's some one like Nitish who has been steadfast on his decisions, including breaking away from his 17-year-old ally the BJP over Narendra Modi or joining hands with Lalu to stop "communal forces". The political turmoil at home has finally made him concede a "mistake".

In a media interaction today, Nitish said: "I have staked claim to form the government to rectify my mistake. I can't silently see the people's agony because of poor governance of the present regime and so I agreed to the popular demand of heading the government again. I shall work for development once again with full force and support of the RJD, Congress and the Left."

Nitish had resigned from the chief minister's post taking moral responsibility of the JDU's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls last summer. He nominated Manjhi for the hot seat to appease the Mahadalit community who had stood by him.

His critics had then termed Manjhi a puppet of Nitish but the chief minister took a couple of months to come out of Nitish's shadow. "I started listening to my heart two months after assuming power and refused to be a remote-controlled chief minister," Manjhi had said in New Delhi on Sunday after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Two days later, Nitish took a dig at him. "Manjhiji is playing intothe hands of the BJP. I want to rectify my error of judgement of making him the chief minister."

Sporting a spotless white kurta-pyjama and a black half-sleeve coat, Nitish said: "The BJP is indulging in dirty politics. People used to say Manjhi was under my control. But now it is clear who is controlling him."

Expressing his concern over the silence of Raj Bhavan on his demand to form the government, Nitish said he would go to Delhi with the legislators of the JDU, RJD, Congress, the lone MLA of CPI and an Independent legislator. He claimed to enjoy the support of 130 legislators. The effective strength of the Assembly is 233 now.

Wondering why Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi did not act on his claim to form the government even 22 hours after their meeting, Nitish said: "The BJP should not be given time for horse trading. Manjhi appears to have returned to Patna from Delhi with the licence of buying legislators. Our MLAs and allies are being promised ministerial berths and BJP tickets in the next Assembly elections."

Taking a dig at BJP during the half-an-hour interaction, Nitish said: "The BJP always held me responsible for whatever happened during the Manjhi regime. Now, when I have staked claim to form the government why is its leaders tacitly extending support to Manjhi?"

Nitish said the JDU legislators would sit in the Opposition bench in the Assembly if Manjhi was given the opportunity to prove his majority on the floor. "Vijay Kumar Chaudhary would be the leader of Opposition in that case. The BJP have been driven out of power. Now, they would cease to remain the Opposition as well," Nitish said.

After a brief pause, he looked at his wristwatch and switched to the Delhi Assembly poll outcome. Congratulating Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish said: "The Delhi result was a tight slap on the face of the BJP. The pendulum has swung from the BJP's side to AAP's within nine months. Delhi has shown the way to the rest of India how to contain the BJP."

Besides Nitish and Chaudhary, Shyam Rajak and state JDU president Bashishtha Narayan Singh accompanied Nitish. Bashishtha announced JDU's political rally of booth-level workers slated at Gandhi Maidan on February 15 had been postponed to March 1.