JD(U) workers protest outside 1 Aney Marg in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Supporters of Nitish Kumar continued with their agitation and protested outside 1 Aney Marg demanding withdrawal of his resignation even as Sharad Yadav made an entry through backdoor for safety.

Like Sunday, they also protested against JD(U) national president Sharad Yadav and demanded his resignation instead.

Nitish’s supporters sat on a dharna outside the official residence of chief minister and shouted slogan in his support. Compared to the Sunday gathering, Monday received less crowd because of strict law and order set-up.

The whole area was cordoned off and barricading was done with the help of rope and heavy police deployment was carried out by the district administration after Sunday’s incident in which Nitish’s supporters banged Sharad’s car and gheraoed him for almost eight minutes.

The agitation became aggressive when Sharad said Nitish should not roll back his decision and project someone else as the new chief minister. The supporters were also angry because at least 12 MLAs were having closed-door talks with Sharad at the state guesthouse on the issue of next chief minister.

While sitting on the dharna, Nayan Kumar, general secretary of farmer cell, said: “We want the Nitish model. No other model will work here.”

Dinnath Yadav, another supporter and former MLA from Paliganj, echoed: “Nitishji must come back and Sharad should tender his resignation taking the responsibility of the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.”

Taking the lesson from Sunday’s incident, Sharad played safe and took a backdoor entry to attend the meeting. Despite all, the protesters did not stop their sloganeering and continued their agitation until Nitish came out and addressed the supporters.

Before Nitish could say anything, the supporters in one voice shouted slogans like “Nitish tum aage badho hum tumhare saath hai.” However, Nitish smartly tackled the situation and asked the supporters to keep calm. “We have a long way to go now and I will request everyone one to return their respective house and the party has authorised me to choose another leader to run this state. I will go to people and am sure that they will give me the mandate. Once again I will take the responsibility of this state but give me some time,” he said.

After listening to Nitish, many returned to their house but few preferred to stay there hoping against the hope of getting their favourite leader at the helm.