2:35 pm: Nitish’s govt wins trust vote with 126 votes in his favour

Finally it was an easy win for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who won the trust vote easily with 126 votes in favour of the government. He got four votes more than expected.

There were only 24 votes against the government given the BJP chose not to participate in the trust vote. A pity given the BJP could have made the contest a little closer.

It’s likely that the four independent MLAs (here’s some details about them) and four Congress MLAs were the eight MLAs that edged the government over the required number. Expect the four independent MLAs to fill the slots vacated by the BJP.

2:25 pm: Nitish says BJP’s Modi dream is one that will be washed away

The Bihar chief minister continued to launch into the Gujarat Chief Minister saying that in his state only the ‘Bihar model of development’ would work, and said that it was a model that had now found international recognition.

He criticised the BJP’s attempts to project Modi as an OBC leader and said that a leader couldn’t claim to be a leader of backward people and castes just because he was from it.

“It is by one’s deeds that one becomes a leader of backward people,” he said.

Claiming that the JD(U) would work to ensure that the “idea of India wasn’t destroyed”, the Bihar chief minister said that in this era of coalitions the BJP wouldn’t even get past the 200 MP mark in the next national elections.

“This dream that the BJP has is one that will be washed away,” he said.

2:10 pm: Nitish says BJP doesn’t respect its leaders, says it stayed with JD(U) while convenient

The Bihar Chief Minister continued to slam the BJP and said that he had gone to Gujarat in 2003 as Railways Minister and since it was a formal function he had chosen to praise Modi. He pointed out that at that time as well he had criticised the communal riots in the state

Kumar blamed the BJP for allying with the JD(U) while it suited them.

“Why didn’t the BJP shout slogans praising the development of another state in 2005?” he said, questioning the sudden emergence of devotion to Narendra Modi.

He also pointed out that the BJP hadn’t needed Narendra Modi to campaign in the state in 2005 or 2010 to win the elections.

Kumar pointed to the fact that he had sent back relief funds sent by the Gujarat government after flooding in Bihar because he had felt hurt by the fact that Modi had tried to take credit for it.

The Bihar CM had some strong words for the party over accusing him of betraying them.

“Those who don’t know how to treat their seniors shouldn’t talk to us about betrayal,” Kumar said, criticising the party for its treatment of senior leaders like LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Kumar said that they had allied with the BJP only after they were assured of the fact that no communal issues would be on the agenda of the government.

1:55 pm: Nitish tells BJP that their Modi dream will be destroyed

The Bihar Chief Minister launched into the BJP, saying that the alliance partner had never taken pride in their work in the state and instead preferred to highlight the development done in another state.

‘You were not shouting slogans in support of Sushil Modi but of someone else,” he said, continuing his criticism of the BJP and Narendra Modi.

He also criticised the party’s decision to back Narendra Modi and said that the nation had too many varied cultures and individual needs that a leader like the Gujarat chief minister would not be able to do justice to.

“Just because you have your cadre enthused doesn’t mean victory. It’s a dream that will be broken,” Kumar said.

1:50 pm: Nitish blames BJP for split, says they broke alliance

Nitish Kumar defended his government and blamed the BJP for the split in the alliance.

“In a democracy people talk and listen…It is now clear why the alliance has split. From the slogans used by BJP at the beginning of today’s session it is clear what situation will arise in the future,” Kumar told the Assembly.

He blamed the BJP for not having any pride in the work the party had done in the state and criticised them for it.

13:15 pm: Who are the four independent MLAs that allowed Nitish to keep calm and carry on?

Nitish Kumar was calm and cool through yesterday despite facing a confidence vote that threatened the very survival of his party. He may not have known about the BJP walking out of the trust vote but even with the BJP voting against him, he always had his numbers in place. And here are the four people whose support ensured that he didn’t have to worry.

One of them is from a family of farmers, another an ex-op and a third is a former BJP MLA.

12:30 pm: Six BJP MLAs resign to continue backing Nitish

So despite walking out of the trust vote, the BJP has failed to prevent a split in its party with a small group of MLAs preferring to resign in order to continue backing the Nitish Kumar government.

12:10 pm: BJP MLAs walk out of Bihar Assembly

The BJP seems to have played it safe rather than expose any fissures in the state unit of the party. The party’s MLAs have walked out of the Assembly before the trust vote and now its almost certain that Nitish Kumar’s government will have absolutely no problem staying in power.

11:20 am: MLAs continue to debate the confidence motion, vote in some time

The vote’s not set to happen any time soon with MLAs still debating the trust motion and the BJP’s MLAs who are now in the opposition, continue to slam Nitish Kumar for breaking the alliance.

Here’s an example of the criticism, the Bihar Chief Minister is facing:

11:15 am: Four Congress MLAs could vote for Nitish, BJP MLAs may abstain

So now it seems the four Congress MLAs could be voting in favour of the Nitish Kumar government. And the six BJP MLAs who failed to show at the party’s meet may just abstain from the vote altogether.

11:10 am: Nitish Kumar moves trust motion

And so it begins. Nitish Kumar has moved the trust motion in the Bihar Assembly and it will now be debated before it goes to a vote.

The BJP expectedly has some harsh words for the Bihar Chief Minister and has accused him of playing politics. In a show of defiance, the BJP MLAs reportedly entered the Assembly shouting slogans in favour of Narendra Modi.

11:00 am: Sushil Modi refuses to confirm issuing whip to MLAs

While reports indicate that the BJP has told its MLAs to vote against the JD(U) government, the party’s legislative unit head has refused to commit to it, saying that the party would evaluate the situation in the Assembly before deciding which way to vote.

The party may benefit if it decides to abstain from voting in the confidence vote as it wouldn’t have to force MLAs to vote against the Nitish Kumar government. It would also allow them to paper over cracks that may be there in the party presently. However, if the BJP has decided to vote against Nitish Kumar, it will be interesting to see how its MLAs vote.

10:50 am: Number of BJP MLAs who didn’t turn up at party meet rises to six

The BJP may have issued a whip to its MLAs telling them to vote against the Nitish Kumar government, but six MLAs have chosen to give a miss to the party meet that is on in Sushil Modi’s house, reported CNN-IBN.

Will they vote against Nitish Kumar or will they choose to take their own decision and face party action? Watch this space.

10: 40 am: Will Congress vote in favour of Nitish?

CNN-IBN quoted sources as saying that the party’s MLAs may vote for the JD(U) government in the vote of confidence today thereby ensuring the government’s survival. Whether this will come with strings attached for a later date remains to be seen.

Meanwhile the BJP has already declared that Nitish Kumar may win the confidence vote but will lose the battle. Eventually. Here’s what a BJP leader said:

10:15 am: Four BJP MLAs fail to show up at party meet

According to CNN-IBN, four BJP MLAs have failed to turn up at the party meet called ahead of the trust vote in Parliament, prompting speculation that they may just abstain instead of voting against Nitish Kumar.

Meanwhile, the state unit of the BJP has issued a whip telling all its MLAs to vote against the JD(U), reported NDTV.

BJP’s MLAs are meanwhile meeting at the residence of Sushil Modi, the erstwhile deputy chief minister of the state, and are expected to go to the Assembly.

10: 00 am: Special session of Assembly today, Nitish expected to breeze through

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is confident of proving his majority in the assembly and if he’s tense it hasn’t really been showing all of yesterday.

Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders said Nitish Kumar was “calm and cool” and spent the day in office Tuesday, not worried about the trust vote in the 243-seat legislature.

The JD-U is four short of majority but is confident of bagging the adequate numbers despite opposition from friend-turned-foe BJP and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The ruling party is primarily banking on the six independents.

“After four of the six independent legislators announced their support to Nitish Kumar, the sole LJP legislator, Zakir Hussain Khan, has also announced his support to the government,” Neeraj Kumar, spokesperson for the JD(U),  said yesterday.

“We have the magic number of 122 including 118 JD-U legislators, four independents and one LJP legislator,” he said.

The independents supporting Nitish Kumar are Pawan Kumar Jaiswal, Som Prakash Singh, Vinay Bihari and Dulal Chandra Goswami.

According to JD-U leaders, the Congress with four legislators is likely to abstain during the vote of confidence. The lone CPI legislator is unlikely to vote against Nitish Kumar.

The BJP, with 91 legislators, has stated it is prepared to sit in the opposition.

Lalu Prasad has vowed to vote against the JD-U. His RJD has 22 legislators.

source:http://ibnlive.in.com