Bihar : Nitish wins trust vote after BJP walks out

PTI

Bihar : June 19 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has won the floor test in Bihar Assembly on Wednesday, with the JD(U) securing 126 votes in its favour.

Congress, CPI, LJP and some Independents voted in favour of the confidence motion moved by Mr. Kumar. Lalu Prasad’s RJD voted against the motion.

With the JD(U) mustering majority for passage of trust vote, BJP MLAs walked out of the Bihar Assembly after accusing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of betraying the mandate of NDA.

“We know you have mustered majority in the House to ensure passage of trust vote... therefore we are walking out,” BJP legislature party leader Nandkishore Yadav announced in the House.

On Mr. Yadav’s announcement, BJP MLAs promptly walked out of the Legislative Assembly while the debate on the trust vote moved by the Nitish Kumar government was going on.

The 91-member BJP legislature party will be sitting in the opposition bench for the first time since November 2005 when the alliance came to power after defeating the RJD-led UPA government in Bihar.

Mr. Yadav accused the Chief Minister of betraying the mandate of the people and said the electorate will teach a lesson to the JD(U) in the next general elections and the 2015 assembly polls.

“The next general elections and the subsequent assembly polls are not too far away in which the people of Bihar will teach a lesson to you (Chief Minister and his party),” the senior BJP leader said.

Seeking to woo away votes of other political parties from the JD(U), Mr. Yadav said the Chief Minister was responsible for scrapping the MLA/MLC local area development fund after re-election to power in 2010.

“I had opposed your decision to scrap the local area development funds of the Bihar lawmakers...but you convinced me to go with your decision,” he said.

“Do you think that the lawmakers are thieves?” he asked the Chief Minister.

After sacking 11 BJP ministers from his Cabinet, Mr. Kumar had met Governor D.Y. Patil on Sunday and requested him to call a special session of the Assembly to seek trust vote on the floor of the House.

In the 243-member House, JD(U) has 118 members, including Speaker, BJP 91, RJD 22, Congress 4, LJP and CPI one each and Independents 6.