Bihar’s political drama took an interesting turn on Monday when the Patna High Court clipped the wings of the minority Government headed by Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, restraining it from taking policy decisions involving financial implications. Manjhi, who has been asked to seek a trust vote on February 20, said he had no intention to recommend President’s Rule in the State even as the BJP said it will decide its stand on the trust vote on Wednesday.
In the midst of all this, the three stakeholders, the BJP, JD(U) and Manjhi, traded charges and accused each other of encouraging horse-trading. While senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar blamed the Narendra Modi-led Government for the current political turmoil in Bihar and a conspiracy to break the JD(U), Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said his party will decide on its stand on the Manjhi Government’s trust motion on February 18.
Claiming that he will win the trust vote, Manjhi alleged that Nitish’s camp was trying to “frighten MlAs” by spreading rumours that he was “conspiring” with the BJP to get President’s Rule imposed in Bihar and accused his rival of parading “bogus” MlAs. Manjhi, who was expelled by the JD(U) after he refused to resign, said it was for the BJP to decide if it wanted to support him or not and that he had met Union Ministers and Bihar Governor in Delhi for official work.
He said the JD(U) and Kumar, who has staked claim to form the Government in Bihar, were spreading rumours that President’s Rule will be imposed in Bihar to win over MlAs and said he had no such intentions. The Patna HC’s decision came as a major setback to Manjhi who had been taking major populist decisions on a daily basis and held two Cabinet meetings during the last four days. A petition had been filed by JD(U) spokesman and MlC Neeraj Kumar on Friday urging the court to restrain Manjhi from taking any decisions with financial implications. The interim order, which brought cheers in the Nitish Kumar camp, was passed by a Division Bench of Justices Samrendra Pratap Singh and Iqbal Ahmad Ansari.
The JD(U) was highly critical of Manjhi taking controversial decisions which had earlier been opposed by majority of the Ministers in the Cabinet meetings. But after the removal of two Ministers and resignation by 20 Ministers, Manjhi got the opportunity to get the approval of certain plans which he wanted to be passed and which aimed to please certain sections of society, particularly the Scheduled Castes. The JD(U) leaders had also submitted a memorandum to Raj Bhawan urging the Governor to restrain Manjhi from taking series of decisions which involved financial implications.
Petitioner Neeraj Kumar said he had pleaded that Manjhi did not enjoy the confidence of the Assembly and the Governor already had asked him to prove his majority on the floor of the House on February 20. “His decisions are adversely affecting the financial health of the State,” he added. Former Advocate-General PK Shahi said the next hearing on the case will be held on February 19.
Incidentally, both the Nitish camp as well as Manjhi camp, besides the BJP, is rushing to the High Court seeking its intervention on matters related to the political upheaval in Bihar. The Manjhi camp had earlier challenged the recognition of Nitish Kumar as leader of JD(U) legislature Party by the Assembly Speaker on which the court put a stay. The party had also petitioned that the Assembly Speaker should be debarred from presiding over the session on February 20 when Manjhi will go for a floor test.
The BJP has approached the court that the JD(U) should not be allowed to get status of main Opposition party since it is the ruling party. The petition has been filed by BJP’s Sudhir Kumar Sharma on Monday. Meanwhile, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who has been elected as leader of the JD(U) legislature Party in the Assembly, has also threatened to move the High Court if he is not granted status of leader of Opposition claiming the JD(U) has pleaded to Assembly Speaker to recognize it as main Opposition party.
Meanwhile, the all-party meeting convened by Assembly Speaker Udai Narayan Chaudhary on Monday to discuss the JD(U) petition to recognize it as main Opposition party replacing BJP and its leader Vijay Chaudhary as lOP. But the meeting remained inconclusive since the BJP boycotted it and Manjhi was also away in Delhi.
After the meeting Vijay Chaudhary appeared unhappy saying the Speaker has not taken a decision on the issue despite his arguments. He said if no decision is taken he would be forced to move the High Court. RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui demanded that the Assembly should release list of the MlAs of different parties after seeking it from the leaders of different parties. He recalled that after the BJP, which was partner of the NDA Government, breaking ties with the JD(U) moved the Assembly that the party should be recognized as main Opposition party in view of the numbers, it was granted the status replacing RJD the very next day. In 2004, Upendra Kushwaha was granted status of lOP in Bihar Assembly on the basis of MlAs strength.