3 RJD MLAs sit on government side ahead of trust vote of Nitish government
The trust vote follows after Nitish took the oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the record ninth time after ditching its alliance with the RJD and forming a government with the BJP
PATNA: Ahead of the floor test of CM Nitish Kumar's government to prove their majority, RJD MLAs Chetan Anand, Neelam Devi and Prahlad Yadav were seen sitting on the government side in the Bihar Assembly causing a big jolt to the Opposition. Reacting to this, former Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said "MLAs should sit on their respective seats till the end of voting, otherwise voting will be considered invalid."
Discussion on the motion to remove the Bihar Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary is currently underway in the State Assembly. Meanwhile, the workers of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party were detained for staging a protest against the Bihar government in Patna alleging that two MLAs were threatened to sit on the side of JDU's whip. RJD Spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said, "Two MLAs Chetan Anand and Neelam Devi have been made to sit on the side of JDU's whip.
They were given threats and whatnot. What kind of horse trading is this?" Amid huddles and shifting of MLAs to secure locations in the state or beyond ahead of the crucial trust vote, both the JDU-NDA alliance and the RJD party claimed to have the majority. Launching a veiled attack on RJD, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, the JDU-NDA government will prove its majority on the floor. Our numbers are going to increase. Nothing will happen no matter what the opposition does. Jungle Raj will not return to Bihar." Ahead of the Bihar floor test, RJD leader Mrityunjay Tiwari claimed that all the MLAs have resolved to save Bihar.
"Satya pareshan ho sakta hai lekin parajit nahi...In a few hours, everything will be known...Democracy will triumph. All the MLAs have made a resolution to save Bihar and its future and for that, the current government needs to be removed from power," the RJD leader said. RJD MLA Bhai Virendra said, "Yes, we have (majority mark). I have all the numbers...We will be ahead in the floor test..."
The trust vote follows after Nitish took the oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the record ninth time after ditching its alliance with the RJD and forming a government with the BJP. Earlier in January, Nitish, who had reportedly gone into a sulk after not being named the convenor of INDIA, the Opposition bloc that took shape through his efforts, dumped the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar and the national coalition to form a new government with the support of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Putting to rest frenzied speculations around his future and that of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, Nitish resigned as chief minister on January 28, his second volte face in less than 18 months. The JD(U) has 45 MLAs in the House of 243 while its partners, the BJP and the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), have 79 and 4 sitting legislators respectively. With the support of another Independent MLA, the NDA has 128 MLAs in the House against 115 of the Mahagathbandhan.
To go past the majority mark in the House, the ruling alliance needs 122 votes.
