A day after he was sworn in again as the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar won the floor test in the Assembly. The ruling coalition of the JD(U), BJP and others got 131 votes while the opposition got 108 votes on Friday.
The main opposition party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD ),requested for a ‘conscience vote’ – a secret ballot in which legislators are not bound by orders to vote for their party. However, it was rejected by the Speaker. Soon after the trust vote, the party members started started protests outside the Assembly, reports NDTV.
Nitish Kumar and former deputy Chief Minister, Tejashwi Yadav, indulged in a war of words inside the House. Yadav asked Kumar whether he felt ashamed sitting next to Sushil Modi, BJP leader who is the current deputy CM.
But Kumar hit back at him saying that he won’t support those who indulge in corruption.
“We were given a mandate to work. We tried to overcome all the problems by respecting the ‘Mahagatbandhan’. You (Tejashwi), were not clarifying on the corruption charges. I had only asked your explanation. This government will work and serve the people of Bihar. We will not tolerate corruption and injustice. Secularism is not to hide your corruption and wrongdoings,” he told ANI News.
Meanwhile, Sushil Modi thanked Opposition RJD and Congress for giving him this opportunity.
“Would like to thank Congress and RJD, if Tejashwi had resigned I would not have been here,” he said, reports The Times of India.
On Wednesday, Nitish ended ‘Mahagathbandhan’, the grand alliance of the Congress, RJD and JD (U) and resigned from the post of the Chief Minister after the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav refused to quit after being named in a corruption case by the CBI.
(Feature image source: PTI)