'Modi wave' is created by corporate houses: Nitish

A total of 126 legislators voted for the motion moved by the chief minister while 24 voted against it. The BJP legislators walked out before the special session began.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today dismissed the so-called wave in favour of Narendra Modi, perceived by many BJP workers, as one created by corporate houses and is short-lived sans any magic.

Kumar in his reply to the debate for the motion of confidence in government moved by him in the Bihar Assembly said that the wave was nothing but created by corporate houses.

"BJP workers are getting excited about wave created by one of their leaders (Narendra Modi)...it is nothing but wave created by corporate houses which will be short lived and cannot do any magic in 2014," Kumar said.

Kumar, whose JD(U) parted company with the BJP last Sunday over elevation of his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi as poll campaigner for his party , also questioned the saffron party's attempt to portray Modi as a OBC leader to garner OBC and extremely backward castes votes.

"Just by being born in an OBC family does not make anybody their leader. A person who is the well-wisher of corporate houses does not become leader of OBC by just taking birth in a backward caste family," he said without naming the Gujarat leader.

"Chaudhary Charan Singh, Madhu Limye and V P Singh were not born in OBC families, but are considered leaders of backward castes because they had genuine commitment for welfare of the poor and deprived sections of society," Kumar said.

Sensing that a break-up might be coming, the BJP even before the separation was organising caste meetings, Kumar said.

He said that while addressing a meeting of the BJP Extremely Backward Castes cell, former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had observed that the Gujarat leader having a similar background cannot be stopped from becoming a prime minister.

Bihar today saw a new alignment of parties during the trust vote even as Kumar comfortably won the trust vote amid a walk-out by the BJP and the LJP.

With the strength of the House reduced to 150 after the BJP and LJP's walk-out, the ruling party got 126 votes, including 4 of Congress, 1 of CPI and 4 Independents besides their own 117.

A total of 24 votes were cast against it. This included 22 of RJD and 2 Independents.

The special session of the Assembly saw widening of acrimony between the JD(U) and the BJP who walked together in the NDA alliance for 17 years.

As the House assembled for the day, BJP Legislators who were in the new role of Opposition and sat along with RJD members in the Opposition benches, vented their bitterness for the chief minister for dumping them.

The BJP members were so agitated that on many occasions they kept taunting the CM and JD(U) while their own party leader Nandkishore Yadav was speaking as new Leader of Opposition in the House.

In his 30-minute speech, Kumar justified the decision to snap ties with the BJP, saying "The writing was clear on the wall after Goa BJP national executive (in which Narendra Modi was made campaign committee chief). If even after that we had not taken a decision, it would have been nothing else than befooling ourselves."

On the charge of "viswasghat' (betrayal) levelled by BJP on him, Kumar said, "Betrayal was actually from their side as they did not address our concerns and went ahead anointing a leader whose divisive politics we cannot accept."

Kumar criticised the BJP for staging walk-out from the House and said "they should have courage to listen to truth."

On the BJP charge that he had insulted the mandate of the people given to JD(U), BJP together in the 2010 elections, he said the alliance benefitted by projecting his face in the elections.

Kumar also poured scorn on the former ally for singing paeans to "Gujarat model" of development in stead of the "Bihar model."

"The truth is that in a developed state like Gujarat the minimum wage is only Rs 100 per day while in the backward state Bihar the same is Rs 162," he said. .

Kumar also questioned the Bihar BJP leaders' new love for an outside leader which, he said, "vitiated the bond which went on so smoothly."

"Why did you not call the leader during the 2005 and 2010 Assembly elections and 2009 parliamentary polls in Bihar?" he asked the BJP members who were not present in the House after their walk-out.

Kumar said that the alliance had almost broken down in 2010 and referred to the BJP national executive committee meeting in Patna when advertisements came up in newspapers showing Narendra Modi holding hands of Kumar.

Kumar was at that time so angry that he returned Rs 5 crore donated by the Gujarat government for victims of Koshi flood and had also cancelled a dinner he was hosting for BJP leaders.

"Is this the Indian culture that you advertise donating in the event of a natural calamity? Many other states had contributed and we also do likewise if such things happen elsewhere, but nobody tries to cash in on the advertisements," he said justifying his act.

The Bihar CM thanked the Congress, CPI and four Independents for voting in favour of his government.

He, however, said there was no need to think what will happen in future (whether JD(U) will have a tie-up with Congress).

"This happened due to the emerging situation in Bihar," he told reporters outside the Assembly.

Earlier, while speaking on the motion, new Opposition leader Nandkishore Yadav criticised the CM for breaking alliance and charged him with practising "politics of convenience."

During the debate Congress Legislature party leader Sadanand Singh justified voting in favour of Nitish to strengthen secular forces.

The lone LJP member Zakir Hussain Khan also abstained from voting in the name of secularism.

RJD Legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who has to make way for Yadav as Opposition leader, said, "Now we have to fight two BJPs, one whose leader now is Narendra Modi and another (pointing towards JD-U) who still sings paens to L K Advani, chief of Babri Masjid demolition."

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