Raj ko raj hi rahne dijiye
(please let the secret remain a secret).”
Amid rumours of cross-voting or some of the ruling coalition legislators skipping the trust vote, a senior RJD legislator Bhai Birendra who is considered very close to Lalu appeared before the media on Thursday, flashing smile on his face and then humming a popular Bollywood number, “
Parde me rahne do, parda na uthao, parda jo uth gaya to bhed khul jayega
(Please leave it behind the curtain, don’t force me to lift it or the whole secret will come out).” He reacted on being asked what will happen on February 12.
“Please don’t force me reveal the secret that will come out on February 12,” Birendra told the media, hinting about a mega political drama on the day of floor test saying, “
Raj ko raj hi rahne dijiye aur 12 tarikh ko khela hoga wo dekhiyega
.” Prior to him, former deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had said the “game” is not over yet, the day Nitish had taken oath as the NDA CM on January 28 after walking out of the erstwhile ruling Grand Alliance.
RJD MLA alleged Nitish was making rounds of senior BJP leaders in Delhi since he had gone nervous ahead of the trust vote and wanted their wholehearted support in his mission.
“If the CM didn’t have fears, then why would he have rushed to Delhi to meet the PM ahead of the trust vote? Why is he repeating that he won’t go anywhere?” RJD spokesperson Birendra told reporters adding Nitish repeated the same line earlier when he joined the Grand Alliance—“
Mitti me mil jayenge lekin BJP me nahin jayenge
(I will prefer to die than joining hands with BJP again).”
“Now, he is repeating the same line in the company of the BJP,” the RJD MLA said, claiming strong resentment prevails among the JD(U) legislators owing to the working style of Nitish even as the bureaucracy is very dominant in the state as the lawmakers are unable to do work of the masses who elected them.
“A good number of JD(U) legislators are against the CM,” he claimed. Denying the RJD was trying to poach the NDA legislators, Birendra said the fact was that the “angry MLAs want to join our camp.”
JD(U) minister Shrawan Kumar said the opposition was trying to buy ruling party MLAs but won’t succeed in its attempt. “The opposition is trying to lure our party legislators, but we are sure they won’t spoil their political career by joining their company. Why would they prefer poison to nectar?” asked Kumar, likening Nitish to nectar.
The fresh development comes barely a day after Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, against whom the NDA moved a no-confidence motion against him, refused to resign before the trust vote. “I will be in the assembly on February 12 and conduct proceedings of the House as per rules,” Chaudhary had said.
A peculiar political drama has unfolded in Bihar right since Nitish dismantled the governing six-party Grand Alliance to form his NDA government in the state on January 28. The JD(U) has alleged that the RJD was trying to cause a split in the party while the INDIA block leaders were not serious towards settling the seat-sharing issue—kind of allegations stoutly denied by the opposition block.
“The same Nitish Kumar who had been mounting heavy pressures on us for quickly settling the seat-sharing issue now says that it is nonsense to talk about seat-sharing right at this time (in the company of NDA). He stands fully exposed now and nobody trusts him anymore,” state Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore said on Thursday.
