In a decisive victory, Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar emerged victorious in the Assembly’s confidence vote, outperforming his previous partner, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led by Tejashwi Yadav, with a 130-0 win.
This vote of confidence occurred two weeks after Kumar shifted his allegiance from the Mahagathbandhan, a coalition including JD(U), RJD, and Congress, to the NDA coalition.
During this session, three members of the RJD, Prahlad Yadav, Neelam Devi, and Chetan Anand, crossed over to the NDA side. Kumar, in his address to the Assembly, accused the RJD of trying to take credit for initiatives he had launched, and criticized the governance under Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi for failing to promote development in Bihar over a span of fifteen years. Additionally, a no-confidence motion against Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary was passed with 125 members in favor.
With a crucial vote pending, the Congress relocated its lawmakers to Hyderabad to prevent defections, RJD legislators stayed at Tejashwi Yadav’s residence, and the BJP confirmed that its 78 MLAs were accommodated in a Patna hotel. Kumar’s JD(U) also arranged for accommodations for 40 of its MLAs in the state’s capital.
