‘Mahagathbandhan’ govt in Bihar wins trust vote; BJP MLAs stage walkout
Patna, August 24: Amid a walkout by BJP MLAs, newly formed ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar, led by Nitish Kumar, on Wednesday comfortably won the motion of confidence (trust vote). BJP MLAs have been stripped of power in the wake of the recent political unrest in the state.
As many as 160 MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion (trust vote) while no vote was cast against the same. The lone MLA of AIMIM, Akhtarul Iman, whose party is not a part of the ruling alliance, also took part in the exercise and supported the confidence motion.
Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari ordered a headcount upon a request by Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, the parliamentary affairs minister.
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Some BJP MLAs stormed the House and sought that the Deputy Speaker should not waste time on a redundant headcount, but take up businesses scheduled for the day.
Proceedings were adjourned till Friday by the Deputy Speaker. The House was informed that nomination papers for the election of a new speaker would be filed on Thursday. Earlier, ahead of the floor test, BJP's Vijay Kumar Sinha resigned as Bihar Assembly Speaker.
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar denied harbouring any prime ministerial ambitions. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lashed out at its previous ally BJP over their speculations of him having prime ministerial ambitions.
He said "he does not want to become "anything". The remarks of the Chief Minister came while addressing the two-day special Assembly session. "Those who say that I have pulled out of the alliance because I want to become something, I don't want to become anything," Kumar said.
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"I was not ready (to become CM) in the 2020 elections. I had said that you (BJP) have won more seats, CM should be from your party. A lot of pressure was put upon me to be the CM, I became ready in the end. But the person whom I raised from the ground to the top in my party. I was the national president of the party, but I appointed him to that post. My party members used to tell me that something wrong is taking place. But I did not listen," he said.
-PTC News/ANI inputs
