India: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar wins trust vote in a major setback for opposition INDIA bloc

In a major victory for India’s ruling party BJP-led NDA alliance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the trust vote in the state assembly with the support of 129 lawmakers. The Bihar assembly boasts 243 members and the majority mark is 122. As per media reports, at least three MLAs from the opposition RJD defected and joined the ruling side before the vote took place. Prahlad Yadav, Neelam Devi and Chetan Anand switched over to NDA, taking the tally to 129.

As the vote took place, the opposition, led by Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, staged a walkout.

Ahead of the crucial voting, a no-confidence motion against Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary was taken up and passed by the Assembly, with 125 members voting in favour of the ouster.

Ahead of the vote, Bihar CM Kumar claimed that the opposition RJD was trying to take credit for the initiatives he had started. He also accused the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi governments of not doing anything for Bihar’s development during the 15 years of their rule.

“They say that Muslims are with them. But what did they do? So many fights happened between Hindus and Muslims during their rule. It all stopped once I came (as CM),” Nitish Kumar said in the assembly.

“When they came again, they just continued my policies and initiatives, and are now trying to take credit,” he added.

The opposition Congress party flew its MLAs to Hyderabad last week amid concerns of “poaching” by the ruling side. On the other hand, all MLAs of RJD stayed at Tejashwi Yadav’s house.

The BJP also took steps to ensure none of its MLAs gets poached and said all of its lawmakers were at a hotel in Patna city. The JD(U) of Nitish Kumar also got 40 of its MLAs to stay at another hotel in the state capital.

Monday’s floor test came two weeks after Nitish broke allegiance with the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) — a JD(U), RJD and Congress alliance — and moved to the NDA bloc.