Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday proved his majority in Bihar Assembly and secured 140 votes backed by the RJD, Congress, CPI and one Independent. The BJP staged a walkout when Nitish was replying to the three-hour debate. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi did not attend the Session. While a total of 140 members voted in favour of the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, there was no vote against it, Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary announced in the Assembly.
The voting on the confidence motion put the Manjhi supporters in a tight spot as they decided to surrender. Though they are attacking Nitish outside the Assembly, they failed to gather courage to defy the party whip and voted in favour to avoid disqualification when the motion was put for lobby division. Despite absence of any opposition after the BJP staged walkout, the Government forced for lobby division to expose the Manjhi supporters.
The eight Manjhi supporter MlAs went along with the legislators of JD(U) and supporting parties RJD, Congress and CPI. The only absentee was Manjhi who did not turn up. The party is contemplating action against the former CM for not attending the Session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister and JD(U) chief whip Shrawan Kumar said, "After discussing this issue with Nitish Kumar the party will initiate action against Manjhi which may also culminate to his disqualification."
Manjhi however, claimed that since he had already been declared an unattached member of the Assembly after being expelled from the JD(U), he belongs to no whip. He had shot a letter to the Assembly Secretary before the confidence motion. The chief whip insisted that despite being expelled from the party, he was still member of JD(U) technically and whip was applicable on him.
The former CM said if his supporters lose their membership his fight against Nitish would become weak. They will continue to be member and fight for the right. He added if the membership of eight terminated JD(U) legislators is restored, "We may be in a position to overthrow the Government."
The Manjhi-backing MlAs who voted for the motion are Brishen Patel, convener of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), Nitish Mishra, Shahid Ali Khan, all former Ministers; Rajiv Ranjan, Dr Sunil, Ajay Pratap, Sumit Singh and Rajeshwar Raj. They all are suspended members of JD(U). The three Independent MlAs who spoke against the motion, however, did not vote.
Replying to the debate, Nitish mounted a multi-pronged attack on BJP and accused its leaders for cheating the public with false promises and compromising on national security. "In Maharasthra, NCP supported you which you had branded naturally corrupt and in Jammu & Kashmir you formed a Government with PDP which you had named Baap-Beti party," he said, adding that JD(U) and RJD are products of the same ideology and socialist school.
Earlier, leader of Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav had said that the State was in a politically unstable condition after the JD(U) severed ties with the BJP and that confidence motion was brought in the Assembly four times during the 22-month tenure. During his speech Yadav accused Nitish of enacting a drama of his resignation and then humiliated a Mahadalit CM.