Nitish Kumar set to win trust motion

PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar will seek a vote of confidence in the special one-day session of the state assembly on Wednesday after snapping ties with its ally BJP on Sunday. Possibly it is for the first time that a government is seeking trust vote in the state without being asked by any quarter to do so. Nitish has decided on this course of action as he is now heading a JD (U) government.


The CM will move the motion and reply after the debate. The motion will be put to vote later on. Senior JD (U) leaders are confident that the government will win the trust of the House. Now in the opposition, the BJP is expected to launch a strident criticism of the government. The attack is expected to be spearheaded by former ministers Nand Kishore Yadav, Sukhda Pandey, Chandramohan Rai, Prem Kumar and others. Former deputy CM Sushil Kumar will be missing from the scene since he is a member of the legislative council.

The ruling JD (U) has 118 MLAs, including the Speaker, in the 243-member assembly. It needs the support of 122 MLAs for a simple majority, and has already garnered the support of four independent MLAs as well as that of lone LJP MLA. The BJP, with 91 members will oppose the motion and will be joined by 22-member RJD and possibly two independent members. However, the four members of Congress and lone member of CPI are likely to abstain during the vote. The CM, who is a member of the Upper house, has no voting right.

Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh said the party is waiting for a direction from the high command, but hinted that they would abstain from voting. In Delhi, Congress spokesman M Afzal said the decision will be taken by the A K Antony committee. If Congress abstains from voting, the government would need the support of only 120 members.

RJD is firm on opposing the confidence vote, said party supremo Lalu Prasad, despite the fact that the party will be on the same page as BJP. "RJD's 22 MLAs will definitely vote against the Nitish Kumar government," he announced on Tuesday. The RJD is going to lose the posts of the leader of opposition in both the Houses, with BJP becoming the main opposition party.