Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the rejuvenated Janata Dal (United)-BJP government comfortably sailed through a confidence vote on Monday evening, following the walkout of the opposition – the Rashtriya Janata Dal led by former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress, and the Left Front. The final tally stood at 130-0 in favor of the JDU-BJP alliance, which also managed to sway three votes from Mr. Yadav’s RJD. The majority mark in the 243-member Assembly was set at 122.
Earlier in the day, there was high drama as Nitish Kumar formally sought the Assembly’s support. An incensed Tejashwi Yadav launched a barrage of sarcastic remarks and jibes at his former ally, reminding his erstwhile partner – Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP – of the ‘flip-flopper Kumar’ tag.
“Can PM Modi ‘guarantee’ he won’t flip again?” Mr. Yadav asked to cheers from party members. He also demanded Nitish Kumar to explain his actions to the people of Bihar.
“When you came out of Raj Bhavan after resigning, you said ‘mann nhi lag raha tha’… hum log nachne gaane ke liye thode hai (you said you weren’t ‘enjoying it’… are we there to entertain you)? We were there to support you,” he exclaimed.
“… but he took the oath thrice in a single term. This is something we never saw before.”
Mr. Yadav also criticized the decision to grant former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur’s legacy to Nitish Kumar and RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav, suggesting the honor was part of a “deal”.
“I am glad Karpoori Thakur received Bharat Ratna. They (the BJP) made a deal… ‘come with us and we’ll award you (the JDU) a Bharat Ratna’…” Tejashwi Yadav declared.
Mr. Thakur was a renowned socialist leader who served as Chief Minister twice in the 1970s and is credited with implementing the state’s controversial liquor prohibition policy. Still remembered today as ‘jan nayak’, or ‘leader of the people’, Karpoori Thakur’s legacy remains a significant asset for political parties today.
Following Mr. Yadav’s speech, his RJD, the Congress, and the Left Front – all former allies of Nitish Kumar’s previous government – walked out of the Assembly.
Later, Awadh Bihari Choudhary was removed as Speaker; he failed a no-confidence motion of his own, with 125 members voting to oust him. Mr. Choudhary is from the RJD, which was dumped last month by Nitish Kumar, less than two years after he severed ties with the BJP.
Nitish Kumar took oath as Chief Minister for a ninth time last month, stating that the mahagathbandhan – the alliance with the RJD – was “not suitable”. Sources, however, said he was more concerned about the readiness of the INDIA bloc’s election preparation. He was reportedly also upset about being criticized as a possible PM candidate.
As a result, Nitish Kumar broke away from the mahagathbandhan and INDIA and formed a new government with the BJP. Often derided as “paltu Kumar”, for his numerous flip-flops, the Bihar Chief Minister met PM Modi in Delhi last week, after which he stated he would “never” again leave the party-led NDA.
Nitish Kumar’s departure from INDIA has left the coalition – formed last year to unite the opposition and defeat the BJP – on the brink of collapse, after Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Aam Aadmi Party both announced their intentions to go their separate ways, for now.
