Bihar trust vote: 130 in favour, easy win for Nitish Kumar as Opposition walks out

Tribune News Service

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, February 12

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the trust vote in the state Assembly after the Opposition, led by the RJD, Congress and the Left, staged a walkout.

The final tally stood at 130-0 in favour of the JDU-BJP alliance, which also managed to get the support of three MLAs of the Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD — Prahlad Yadav, Chetan Anand and Neelam Devi. The majority mark in the 243-member Assembly is 122.

High drama ensued prior to the trust vote proceedings as Kumar stood up to seek the confidence vote. An angry Yadav peppered him with taunts, reminding him of his frequent flip-flops, which, he said, had earned him the sobriquet of “Paltu Kumar”.

Tejasvi sought to know if PM Narendra Modi could “guarantee that Kumar won’t flip again?” “When you came out of Raj Bhawan after resigning, you said you weren’t ‘enjoying it’. Were we there to entertain you? We were there to support you,” the RJD leader fumed, adding Kumar had taken oath as CM three times in a single term.

Yadav also attacked the Centre for awarding the Bharat Ratna to former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, alleging that it was part of a “deal”. Thakur was a mentor to both Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. After Yadav’s speech, the Opposition walked out of the Assembly.

Kumar also came down heavily on Yadav, saying, “What was the shape of Bihar while it was ruled by his father (Lalu Prasad). There were no roads and people were afraid of venturing out after sunset.” Earlier, Awadh Bihari Choudhary of the RJD was removed as Speaker with 125 members voting to sack him.

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