Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s new Grand Alliance government won the trust vote in the assembly today. The BJP walked out in protest during his address ahead of the voting.
In the voting that followed after the BJP walkout, Kumar got all 160 votes. With 164 MLAs supporting Nitish Kumar’s government in the 243-member Bihar assembly, the test of majority was mostly a formality.
In his speech during the debate on the motion of confidence, Tejashwi Yadav — chief of Rashtriya Janata Dal and Kumar’s new deputy, said the new partnership will be “historic”. “This is a never-ending innings, it will be historic. Our partnership will be long. No one is going to be run out,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
During the debate, the BJP’s Tarakishore Prasad ripped into Nitish Kumar, his former boss, saying he has lost “political credibility”. The former Deputy Chief Minister mocked Kumar’s “personal ambition to become the prime minister despite not having the ability to become the chief minister on his own steam”.
The assembly session started with Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, a BJP member, stepping down in response to a no-confidence motion against him by the Grand Alliance. The floor test was chaired by Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who is from Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).
Hours before the trust vote, the homes of several RJD leaders — Sunil Singh, Subodh Rai, Dr Faiyaz Ahmad and Ashfaque Karim — were raided by the CBI in connection with a “land-for-jobs” scam dating back to party chief Lalu Yadav’s tenure as Union Railway minister in the UPA-I government.
In Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav ripped into the BJP, saying, “Are you trying to say that all the property in the country belongs to Tejaswi Yadav? The person who brought the railways into profit is facing cases and those who are selling the railways and the country, nothing will happen to them”.
Tejashwi Yadav also made several strong remarks, accusing the NJP of using the Central investigating agencies whenever it is “scared”. “A narrative is being created. If you join hands with the BJP, then you are Harishchandra (a king from mythology known for his honesty and truthfulness). Else you are a criminal, a rapist, and the ED and the CBI will be set after you,” he said
With inputs from NDTV
The post Nitish Kumar wins majority test, BJP walks out first appeared on IPA Newspack.
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