Nitish govt wins trust vote

A fortnight after its formation, the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar headed by Nitish Kumar won the trust vote in the assembly comfortably on Monday amid a walkout by the Opposition alliance members, but not without a scare when the no-confidence motion against Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary earlier in the day drew only 125 votes in support against the ruling alliance’s strength of 128.

In the 243-strong assembly, a total of 129 members voted in favour of the motion of confidence in the new government. Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who belongs to CM Kumar’s JD(U), was in the Chair when the voting took place.

CM Kumar rose to suggest that the vote of Hazari also be counted.

Usually, the person in the Chair does not take part in voting, unless there is a tie.

After the Opposition boycott, the voice vote could have sufficed, but parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said there should be vote count to dispel confusion spread over the last few days. Nitish Kumar backed the demand.

Of the 45 MLAs of Janata Dal (United), 44 voted during the trust vote. Dilip Ray, MLA from Sursand, defied the party whip and did not turn up for voting.

All 78 members of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and all four members of ally HAM (S) voted in favour of the government, besides one Independent.

Three members of Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — Chetan Anand, MLA from Sheohar and son of Anand Mohan, Prahlad Yadav and Neelam Devi, MLA from Mokama and wife of jailed strongman Anant Singh— also voted in favour of the government, saving the day for the ruling alliance which was in for a scare when two BJP members and one from JD(U) did not turn up to vote on the no-confidence motion to remove the Speaker, who was from RJD.

The government required 122 votes for removal of the Speaker, but it got 125 after the three RJD legislators switched sides and sat with the treasury benches.

After the no-confidence notice, the next on the agenda was the trust vote for the new government.

RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, who was deputy chief minister since August 2022 till January 28 when Nitish Kumar deserted their Mahagathbandhan alliance and realigned with the BJP-led alliance to form a new government, launched a scathing attack on the chief minister, accusing him of “frequent flip-flops and creating a record of taking oath as CM thrice in three years”.

The young RJD leader, in his early 30s, said there was a lot of talk about “Modi ki guarantee”. “But can he (Modi) guarantee that Nitish Kumar would not take another U-turn again. I respected Nitishji and will continue to respect him. He may have some compulsions for banishing me, who he often described like his son. Dashrath had some compulsions for sending Ram on exile,” he said.

“Nitish ji knows I was not interested in joining his government (in August 2022). I wanted to support him from outside. But I assure Nitishji, if he again has a rethink and needs support, we will think over it. We made a ‘tired’ CM run. We made him deliver on our job promise. We made the government carry out caste survey despite BJP’s reluctance. But then, you made a volte face yet again without even communicating the reason to your deputy CM. You were the one who always referred to me as the NextGen. What happened to all that?” he asked.

Turning to former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, whose HAM-S played a key role in ensuring the removal of the Speaker, Yadav said “After Nitish Kumar’s outburst against him, Manjhiji had said the CM was being administered wrong medicine. Now, it is for you get him properly treated. If possible, take a room close to him for his well being. Without stability, there cannot be development in the state. I really feel pain for JD(U) legislators as to how will they go to the people. The CM keeps his chair intact, but what about them,” he said.

He also appealed to the government to continue with the job recruitment that started under the Mahagahtbandhan government. “Whatever compulsions you may have had, at least continue giving jobs to the people in the health sector. You did not want us to take credit. Why should we not take it? We made it possible,” said Yadav, who has served as deputy CM under Nitish Kumar twice.

In his speech, Nitish Kumar said he had heard about corruption (in his government), which he could not tolerate. This evoked a sharp protest from the Opposition benches.

“RJD wants to take credit, but they should know the condition of the state prior to 2005 when I took over. There was utter lawlessness, darkness and total absence of roads. My government has been working for Bihar’s development and that will continue,” Kumar said, vowing to continue being with BJP now on.

Deputy chief minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary attacked RJD for alleged corruption and said they were facing cases due to the “sins of the past”. “Even reservation could not go beyond one family in the RJD and its leaders have no right to speak about marginalised sections of the society,” he said.

Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha of the BJP said there was a change in environment in the entire state and in the House there was change in the language. “But the reality is that Bihar has heaved a sigh of relief. The kind of situation that was created for Nitishji was the reason why he moved out to settle at his old and trusted place,” he said.