10-Point Guide To How Nitish Kumar Won Floor Test (Easily) In Bihar Assembly

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the floor test in the state Assembly. (PTI)

Highlights

Nitish Kumar won the trust vote with 131 legislators voting for him
Tejashwi Yadav blamed Nitish Kumar during his Assembly speech
Secularism can't mask corruption, said Nitish Kumar, taking a jibe at RJD

Patna: A day after he took oath as Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar sailed through a trust vote today, with 131 legislators supporting him in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. 108 voted against him. The vote and a discussion before it were held amid protests and slogan shouting by Lalu Yadav's RJD, now the chief opposition party. In a short speech, Nitish Kumar rejected the opposition's allegation that his new alliance with the BJP has been built on political opportunism.

Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:

"We claimed we had the support of 131 MLAs and we got 131 votes," Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi of the BJP told NDTV, stating that the opposition's claim that several members of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) would vote against him had been deflated.
The RJD request for a "conscience vote" - a secret ballot in which legislators are not bound by orders to vote for their party - was rejected. MLAs voted by lobby division, recording their vote in separate registers. "
"You cannot have the liberty to loot or indulge in corruption in the name of secularism," said Nitish Kumar said in his 12-minute speech, adding, "These are arrogant people. Political parties get a mandate in elections to serve the people...the people were fed-up."
His former partners the RJD and Congress say their alliance got a massive mandate in the assembly elections on an anti-BJP plank and so Mr Kumar's decision to partner with the BJP is unethical. The RJD raised slogans calling the chief minister "Kursi Kumar" or turncoat.
Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav, now Leader of Opposition, spoke for 40 minutes, attacking his former boss saying, "Aapko sharam nahin aayi? (Aren't you ashamed?)." The 28-year-old, who was Nitish Kumar's deputy till Wednesday morning, accused Mr Kumar and the BJP of "opportunism."
On Wednesday, hours after Lalu Yadav said his son Tejashwi would not resign over corruption charges, Nitish Kumar quit as Chief Minister ending his two-year-old alliance with the RJD and Congress.
The BJP was waiting with an offer of support and they met the Governor the same night to stake claim to form government. Nitish Kumar took oath for the sixth time yesterday as Chief Minister and Sushil Modi was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister, a post he has held twice before.
"I would like to thank the Congress and RJD. If Tejashwi had resigned I would not have been here," Mr Modi said in the Assembly.
The RJD has moved court challenging the appointment of Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister. It says as the largest party in the Bihar assembly it should have been given first chance at forming government after Nitish Kumar resigned. The court has admitted the petition but refused to stop the trust vote, saying it would hear the case on Monday.
Nitish Kumar had ended his 17-year alliance with the BJP in 2013 over its decision to name Narendra Modi its Prime Ministerial candidate. In 2015 he partnered with the Congress and Lalu Yadav to win the assembly elections. But in recent months, he had broken ranks with the opposition to support several initiatives of PM Modi, including demonetisation and the candidacy of Ram Nath Kovind for the post of the President.