New Delhi/PATNA, March 31 -- Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Nabin resigned from the state's legislative council and legislative assembly respectively on Monday, weeks after both leaders were elected to the Upper House earlier this month. The twin resignations came on the final day of the two-week period allowed under law. According to the Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950 (under Articles 101/190 of the Constitution), a member elected to both Parliament and a state legislature must resign from one within 14 days. Sanjay Gandhi, MLC, accompanied by parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, carried Kumar's letter to the legislative council chairman Avadhesh Narayan Singh. To be sure, Kumar didn't resign from his position as chief minister. The 75-year-old can remain chief minister for another six months. He is set to take his seat in the Rajya Sabha tentatively on April 10. Frontrunners to replace him in Bihar include Samrat Choudhary and Nityanand Rai. Singh, who also paid a courtesy visit to the CM in the morning, said that he had accepted Kumar's resignation. "He has been an invaluable leader of the House and devoted himself to Bihar's cause," he added. FULL REPORT ON PAGE 8...