The BJP in Bihar on Wednesday played to the hilt its newfound role as the state’s main Opposition party, attacking chief minister and JD(U) strongman Nitish Kumar and walking out of the Assembly without voting in the trust motion sought by Mr Kumar.
Accusing Mr Kumar of playing into the Congress’ hands and using unethical means to garner the support of the MLAs to win a “needless trust vote,” newly-nominated Opposi-tion leader Nand Kishore Yadav of the BJP, who was a senior Cabinet minister and convenor of the Bihar NDA till before three days ago, said Mr Kumar’s JD(U) “backstabbed” the saffron party and betrayed the Bihar people’s trust and mandate.
With the BJP’s Central leadership asking the state unit to boycott the Assembly’s special session, Mr Yadav said the “trust deficit in the government” did not allow the national party to vote and therefore protest was its only way. Mr Yadav and 85 of the BJP’s total 91 legislators present in the Assembly walked out when the debate on the trust motion was in progress.
The RJD, which had played the role of Bihar’s main Opposition party for the past over seven years of NDA rule headed by Mr Kumar, made space for the BJP legislators to occupy the benches just opposite the treasury benches.
RJD legislators watched with glee as the BJP legislators chanted slogans against Mr Kumar’s JD(U) government.