PATNA:Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday got a major relief when a Division Bench of the Patna High Court modified its order barring him from taking policy decisions and added a rider that the decisions could be taken only if they were to be implemented after February 21, a day after his government will seek a vote of confidence. The Bench was acting on the government’s petition seeking modification to Monday’s order of the Division Bench comprising Justice Iqbal Ahmad Ansari and Justice Samrendra Pratap Singh that directed the government not to take any policy decision with financial implications.
Recently, the government has taken many “populist” decisions having huge financial implications.
Exuding confidence, Manjhi said he would prove his majority on the floor of the House. “We’ll secure the vote of confidence on February 20,” he told mediapersons here.
Politics in the state has reached an interesting phase, with two major parties -- the JD(U) and the BJP -- staking a claim to the main Opposition party status.
JD(U) legislature party leader Nitish Kumar wrote to Bihar Legislative Council Chairman Awadesh Narayan Singh, seeking the main Opposition party status for the JD(U) in the Upper House. The JD(U) has already demanded the status in the Assembly.
BJP legislators Nand Kishore Yadav and Sushil Kumar Modi are Leaders of the Opposition in the Assembly and the Legislative Council respectively.
Meanwhile, Yadav walked out of an all-party meeting called by the Assembly Speaker, accusing the Speaker’s office of working like a JD(U) office and adopting “unconstitutional” means. He also said a meeting without the Chief Minister and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister made no sense.
Undeterred by the JD(U) suspending its seven ministers, the government approved many “populist decisions” in a Cabinet meeting.
The BJP legislative party may side with Manjhi as most of the party legislators are in favour of supporting the Manjhi Government in the trust vote.
“All BJP members are of the opinion that party should support Manjhi,” said party spokesperson Vinod Narayan Jha.