PATNA: Bihar’s two-day-old JD(U)-BJP government led by chief minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) comfortably won the trust vote on the floor of the Assembly Friday, belying claims by RJD and Congress of cross voting in their favour.
The new government, which came into being with Kumar and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi being sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister on Thursday, won 131 votes, nine more than the magic figure of 122 in the House of 243 members. The Congress-RJD alliance won 108 votes.
BJP and JD(U) have 53 and 71 MLAs respectively, and the two parties got the votes of BJP’s existing allies — RLSP (2 MLAs), LJP (2 MLAs) and HAM (one). The JD(U)-BJP combine also got the votes of three independent MLAs. JD(U) MLA Vijay Chaudhary, being the speaker, was not supposed to vote. RJD and Congress have 80 and 27 MLAs respectively, and they got the support of the three Left MLAs.
One MLA each from BJP, RJD and Congress could not vote. While BJP MLA Anand Kishore Pandey was unwell and under treatment in New Delhi, RJD legislator Rajballabh Yadav is in jail, charged with the rape of a minor girl. Congress MLA Sudarshan could not vote as voting time was over when he came in.