Sachchidanand Jha
Patna : The NDA, which has 58 members in the 243 member Bihar assembly, is likely to get 16 to 18 miniterial berths in Nitish Cabinet. Former Bihar CM and HAM ( S) president Jitan Ram Manjhi, the lone MLA of his party in the state assembly, is likely to be inducted in the cabinet. The LJP and RLSP have two members each in the House while the BJP has 53 members. The JD(U) has 71 members in the House of which Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is the Speaker.
Nitish Kumar government on July 28, 2017, won the floor test in Bihar Assembly securing 131 votes against the opposition’s 108. Four members could not vote reducing the effective strength of the House during the trust vote to 239. Raj Bhallav Yadav, RJD, did not vote as he is in jail while BJP’s Anand Shankar Pandey was absent as he is undergoing medical treatment outside the state. Congress’ Sudarshan could not vote due to technical reasons as he was out of the House when the doors were shut for lobby division. Speaker Chaudhary did not participate in the voting. CM Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi did not vote as both are members of Bihar legislative council. Contrary to speculations, no cross voting took place.
Meanwhile, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, in a caustic attack on CM Nitish Kumar, wondered what happened to his `Sanghmukta (RSS) Bharat’ mission. Lalu said that Nitish had surrendered before Narendra Modi. The RJD chief predicted that the BJP would finish Nitish as a politician. Lalu said that the BJP and JD(U) have made his son and former Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, 28, a big politician.
But, CM Nitish Kumar said that secularism should not be used to justify corruption. The CM said that he would never support people who amass wealth through wrong ways. Former Bihar BJP chief and senior BJP MLA Nand Kishore Yadav wondered from where Tejaswi had amassed such huge wealth at such a young age.