ANWARUL HODA/ PATNA
Nitish Kumar led NDA government won vote of confidence in Bihar assembly today. 131 legislators of JD(U)-BJP, LJP, Rashriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) voted in favour of trust vote. 4 independent MLAs also exercised their votes in favour of trust motion.
108 legislators of RJD-Congress and others voted against vote of confidence. 122 votes were required for majority in 243 member Bihar assembly. Earlier, RJD demanded for secret voting but Speaker rejected it. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar thanked those MLAs who voted in favour of trust vote.
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RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, spoke first on the confidence motion and launched a scathing attack against Kumar for dumping the Grand Alliance government.
RJD MLAs protested in the portico of Assembly, signalling their aggressive mood ahead of the trust vote. Live telecast of House proceedings is prohibited and reporters not allowed to use their mobile phones inside.
Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi had asked the chief minister yesterday to seek a confidence vote within two days of his swearing in.
Kumar, 66, was sworn in yesterday, returning to the National Democratic Alliance after four years.
The NDA alliance had submitted a list of 132 MLAs to the governor. These include 71 of JD(U), BJP 53, RLSP two, LJP two, HAM one and three independents.
In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the RJD has 80 MLAs, the Congress 27 and the CPI-ML has three. The Janata Dal-United leaders said Nitish Kumar was “calm and cool” and spent the early morning at his official residence as usual, not worried about the trust vote. —