The three other MLAs will join the rest in Hyderabad on Monday, the sources added.“Our Bihar MLAs have been shifted for obvious reasons,” a senior Congress leader said. The MLAs will be flown to Patna on Feb 12 and taken to the assembly directly from the airport for the trust vote, the sources said.
Rahul Gandhi takes a jibe at Nitish Kumar for joining NDA; shares ‘chutkula’ on Bihar CM
Nitish, who formed his new govt with BJP and allies on Jan 28 after dumping the RJD-Congress-Left Grand Alliance, claims the support of 128 MLAs, more than the majority mark of 122 in the 243-member assembly. But there are apprehensions that some could be absent during the floor test or cross-vote.
Key figures of Bihar Congress, including state president Akhilesh Singh, are leading the delegation to Hyderabad, the sources said. The MLAs were said to have flown to Telangana from Delhi, where they reportedly met AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
“Andar se sab ko…” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge slams BJP over CM Nitish joining NDA
Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP) claimed Congress was scared. “It’s like holding the MLAs hostage. They don’t have trust in them. They must not think the MLAs are bonded labourers,” Sinha said. Congress MLA Prem Chandra Mishra hit back: “NDA should not think about us. We are intact. Instead, JD(U) will face a split.”
In Jharkhand, the JMM-led governing coalition has also shifted legislators to “safe” Hyderabad ahead of a trust vote by new CM Champai Soren on Monday after the resignation and arrest of his predecessor Heman Soren by the ED in a land scam case last week.
However, Left is not losing much sleep over its 16 Bihar MLAs. “We are confident no one can poach them since ideology is our capital. Our MLAs are freely moving in their constituencies. We don’t confine our legislators since we have full faith in them,” Bihar CPI-ML secretary Kunal told TOI on Sunday.
