PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday won a crucial trust vote on the floor of State Assembly. And he received the backing of 145 legislators in the 243-member House, which has a current strength of 237 MLAs.
Apart from the support of the 117 JD(U) MLAs, 21 RJD legislators and four Congress members,besides one CPI MLA and two independents voted in favour of the trust motion, while 88 BJP legislators staged a walkout in the House before the motion was put to vote.
After winning the trust vote comfortably, Manjhi indicated that he would undertake a Cabinet expansion in the near future. “The Cabinet will be expanded soon,” he said, adding, the ministry would be expanded to its full strength of 35 from the present 18.
Referring to Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav’s accusation of an immoral alliance between the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress only to keep the BJP out ,Manjhi said that he never asked support from the RJD as we already have the majority in the House.
“I had the support of 124 MLAs, including four of the Congress, against the magic figure of 118 in the House, whose effective strength at present is 237. If they (the RJD) supported us on the issue of social justice, then we welcome it.” he said. Nand Kishore had on Friday questioned the “unprincipled and immoral alliance”, between the JD(U) and the RJD. Opposing the trust motion in the state Assembly he described the new found friendship between the two parties by reciting a line from a poem: “Miley na phool to kanton se dosti kar le” (If you do not get the flower make friends with thorn).
“You have been asked to be the CM only till 2015. What type of joke is this. We have seen the fate of Manmohan Singh and Rabri Devi,” he said referring to how Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Yadav used to resort to alleged backseat driving.”Is this the way Mahadalit is given respect?, he asked.