Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Saturday visited Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar in the presence of party president Sharad Yadav to reconcile after Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership in Delhi made it clear not to support Manjhi.

"Manjhi is meeting Nitish Kumar in presence of Sharad Yadav for a patchup because he failed to get a clear assurance of support from the BJP," a JD-U leader close to Manjhi said.

According to JD-U leaders, Manjhi, after discussion with his close associates, approached Sharad Yadav on Saturday morning to initiate a move for patch up with Nitish Kumar.

Sharad Yadav invited

both Manjhi and Nitish Kumar for a meeting together.

Earlier, Manjhi had called for a cabinet meeting on Saturday ahead of the JD-U legislature party meeting called by Sharad Yadav.

The BJP changed its earlier stand to extend support to Manjhi if he managed the support of 30 JD-U MLAs.

"BJP leaders in Bihar were ready to help and support Manjhi against Nitish Kumar camp on Friday, but top leaders in Delhi turned down the idea.

BJP has 88 MLAs in the 243 Bihar assembly, JD-U has 115 MLAs and it enjoy the support of 24 Rashtriya Janata Dal  MLAs, 5 Congress's MLAs, 1 Communist Party of India and two Independents.

Manjhi has already refused to resign despite pressure by a powerful group within JD-U.