No ‘Khela’ In Bihar, CM Nitish Kumar Sails Through Trust Vote As RJD-Congress MLAs Stage Walkout

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led government secured the magic number during the trust vote in the state assembly on Monday, defeating the Mahagathabandhan, which was hoping for some “Khela” (play) after some JD(U) MLAs skipped their party meeting a day ago.

The NDA government won the floor test easily with 129 votes in favour while the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) staged a walkout from the state assembly.

Opposition Stages Walkout

In the absence of the Opposition, Kumar first proved his majority by voice vote but later insisted on manual voting and went on to win the vote of confidence with 129 votes in favour against none in opposition to his government.

JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar’s victory in the Bihar assembly floor test saw a huge political commotion, a war of words and name-calling.

Kumar accused Tejashwi Yadav’s party of corruption, saying “they were minting money”, while the RJD leader took potshots at Nitish Kumar for taking oath as Chief Minister three times in a single term.

Number Game in Bihar Assembly

• The are a total of 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly and the majority mark is 122.
• The NDA has the majority in the Assembly with 128 seats, of which, BJP has 75, JD(U) 45, Hindustani Awam Morcha, 4 and one independent MLA Sumit Singh.
• On the other hand, the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly has a total of 114 seats with RJD having the highest at 79, Congress at 19, CPI(ML) 12, and 2 each with CPI(M) and CPI.
• In an unprecedented move, earlier today, 3 RJD MLAs sat with the ruling NDA in Assembly, to which, Tejashwi raised a point of order.
• According to a PTI report, taking objection to party MLAs Chetan Anand, Neelam Devi and Prahlad Yadav sitting among members of the ruling NDA, ahead of voting on a no-confidence motion against Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav raised a point of order.
• No ruling, however, was given on the point of order by Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who was in the Chair.

Nitish Kumar, on the other hand, levelled corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav’s party saying, “Kama rahe the ye log (they were making money).”

Kumar also went on to take potshots at Yadav’s parents, Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi in his speech, after winning the vote of confidence, and said, “Before this, his father and mother got the chance to work, what happened in Bihar then? Would anybody dare to go out at night at that time? Was there any road?”