JD(U) confident of winning trust vote, brushes aside absence of few MLAs at legislative party meet
Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Sunday exuded confidence that its national president, who was sworn in as Bihar CM for a record ninth time after forming a new government with the BJP, will win Monday's trust vote.
State parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who convened a meeting of the JD(U) legislative party, downplayed the absence of «two or three MLAs,» attributing it to «unavoidable circumstances about which they had given prior information.» He emphasised that the absentees would be present in the assembly during the floor test.
«We in the NDA have a total strength of 128 MLAs. In the 243-strong assembly, we are comfortably placed. All our MLAs will be present inside the House where a no-confidence motion against the Speaker will precede the trust vote», said Chaudhary.
The senior JD(U) leader evaded a direct reply on the exact number of MLAs who skipped the meet.
«All except two or three were present. Those who did not come had informed the party leadership about the unavoidable circumstances that kept them away. They will, however, be there inside the House tomorrow», claimed Chaudhary.
JD(U) sources requesting anonymity said the three MLAs who were not spotted at the meeting were Sudharshan Kumar Singh, Bima Bharti and Dilip Roy.
The JD(U) has altogether 45 MLAs, excluding the chief minister who is a member of the legislative council.
Chaudhary said, «According to the schedule prepared for tomorrow's proceedings, the House will first take up the no confidence motion against the Speaker. As
