Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won Friday’s floor test comfortably in the company of BJP and reminded former ally RJD that secularism cannot be an excuse for defending corruption.
Deflecting charges that he betrayed the 2015 mandate, Kumar said the vote was for a transparent, clear government and not to "serve a family" - the reference being to the family of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav which is hit by corruption scams.
“People gave us the mandate to serve them and I am accountable to them. I am not here to serve a particular family," Kumar said in his hard-hitting speech before he won the trust vote by 131 votes to 108.
Reminding his former Mahagathbandan allies that he did not need "lessons in secularism" from any one, Kumar said, "Secularism cannot be a reason to defend corruption. I do not buy this theory."
Earlier, his former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav accused Kumar of political opportunism for breaking away from the Mahagathbandhan and allying with the BJP.
“Nitish Kumar had planned to go with the BJP well in advance. Whenever he fights alone, he is exposed. Nitish needs either the BJP or the RJD," Tejashwi said. “He (Nitish) transformed from ‘Hey Ram’ to ‘Jai Shri Ram’," the young RJD leader said, triggering protest from BJP members.
“Nitish Kumar is still my uncle, but he betrayed me. If Nitish had asked me to resign, I would have thought of it. But conditions were created to frame me. The RJD had more numbers than the JD(U), but we still chose him as the CM. We sacrificed. I have always tried to keep the Mahagathbandhan going…"
During the confidence motion, four members in the 243-member house could not vote, reducing the total strength of the house to 239. Kumar sailed through with 11 votes to spare, but contrary to reports, there was no cross-voting on either side.
Raj Bhallav Yadav of the RJD could not attend as he is in jail, BJP's Anand Shankar Pandey was absent as he is undergoing medical treatment outside the state. Congress' Sudarshan could not vote due to technical reasons and Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary did not participate.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his new deputy Sushil Kumar Modi did not take part in the voting as both are members of the Legislative Council.
The 131 votes in favour of Nitish Kumar comprised JD(U) 70, BJP 52, HAM 1, RLSP 2, LJP 2 and Independent 4. The 108 votes against it comprised RJD 79, Congress 26 and CPI-ML 3.
Nitish Kumar returned as chief minister on Thursday as head of an NDA government, a day after he broke ranks with Lalu Yadav's RJD party and the Congress. The 'Grand Alliance', formed after Kumar had broken away from the NDA in 2014, lasted only 20 months despite being voted in with a thumping majority.
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