Patna High Court stays his election as JD(U) legislature party leader
Agencies
PATNA, FEBRUARY 11
The Patna high court on Wednesday stayed Nitish Kumar’s election as head of the JD(U)’s legislature party's hours before he was to meet the President to claim majority in the assembly, dealing a setback to his efforts to make a comeback as chief minister. A bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice L Narsimha Reddy and Justice Vikas Jain stayed the Bihar Vidhan Sabha secretary's letter on the instruction of the speaker declaring Kumar the JD(U) legislature party leader. The judges said the letter would not be operative.
The high court observed that the letter of the secretary, Hare Ram Mukhiya, had "no legal consequences at this stage." The bench said: "We intend to examine the legal applicability of the letter."The court’s ruling came a day after Kumar took the battle for the post of chief minister to New Delhi. Kumar said he had decided to present the 136 MLAs backing him to the President because Bihar governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was “delaying” a decision to invite him to form government.
Other leaders of the Janata Dal-United and its allies, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, will accompany Kumar for the meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee. "Nitish Kumarji, Sharad Yadavji, Lalu Prasad Yadavji and Mulayam Singh Yadavji will be meeting the President at 7pm today (Wednesday)," JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said.
PTI quoted unnamed sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan as saying that the President would decide on Wednesday on the plea by Kumar.
Bihar was plunged into a political crisis last week after Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi refused to make way for his one-time mentor Kumar, who had quit as chief minister last year after owning responsibility for the JD-U’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The JD(U) elected Kumar the head of its legislature party and later expelled Manjhi. But a defiant Manjhi said he would continue to be chief minister till he was removed in a trial of strength in the assembly.
Though leaders from Kumar’s camp had said he would come to Delhi with 136 lawmakers, there were varying claims about the number of MLAs actually present in the capital. Several MLCs, MPs and political leaders are part of the group accompanying Kumar.
Some reports said around 70 legislators had come to Delhi with Kumar. This means Manjhi could possibly bail himself out with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s support on the floor of the assembly.
There was also speculation that not all RJD MLAs were in favour of removing Manjhi at this stage.
With 10 seats currently vacant, the effective strength of the Bihar assembly is 233 and 117 is the majority mark. Governor Tripathi, who met both Kumar and Manjhi on Monday, is yet to decide on a confidence vote in the assembly.
Kumar has questioned the "delay" by Tripathi in defusing the political crisis.
Manjhi has been unfazed by the developments. He chaired a meeting of his cabinet on Tuesday meeting and announced he would look after 18 key departments, including home and finance, on his own. The Dalit leader also passed a raft of populist measures, including a proposal that sanctioned preference for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe contractors for projects worth up to Rs. 70 lakh if their bid was equal to the offer made by general category contractors.
This issue had been a key irritant in in Manjhi’s strained relationship with the JD(U).
Manjhi also changed the policy of providing uniforms to children of weaker sections even if they did not have the mandatory 75% attendance. While general category students will need 60% attendance to get uniforms, children from weaker sections will get them even with 55%.
He further decided to create a three-member committee to recommend a protocol to provide reservations for economically weaker sections among upper castes, a major promise of the state government since 2010.
The previous administration headed by Kumar had created a Savarna Commission to go into the issue but it failed to make a decision.
Former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar paraded 130 MLAs before President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday to underline his claim to form government in the state.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nitish flew for Delhi along with two planeloads of MLAs and leaders of supporting political parties to mount pressure on governor Keshari Nath Tripathi against delaying a decision on the political stalemate in Bihar.
Though Nitish refused to blame the governor for delaying an invite to him to form government and allowing chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to indulge in horse trading, he said he could not wait and see Bihar suffer. "Why is this delay? We nursed Bihar for more than eight years and ensured good governance and rule of law. How can we allow BJP to get all wrong things done through Manjhi and heap the blame on me for that? I have the record of statements made by BJP leaders against me for the wrongs committed by the Manjhi government. They should announce their support to Manjhi. If they do so, I'll expose them the way I played the tape of Modi on bringing back black money from abroad and failing to do so," Nitish said before leaving for Delhi.
JD(U) senior leader Nitish Kumar at Jai Prakash Narayan Airport in Patna on Tuesday before leaving for Delhi to parade the supporting MLAs in front of the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan. (PTI Photo)
Explaining the social engineering during his regime, Nitish said he always tried to take along every caste and section of the society. On the technicalities raised by Manjhi on Monday after meeting the governor, Nitish said the JD (U) will sit in the opposition the day assembly session is convened. "We have already notified Vijay Kumar Choudhary as the JD (U) leader in the assembly. We are ready for election but a popular government should be formed for the remaining term of this assembly," he said.
Referring to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, Nitish said there was no provision for secret ballot as demanded by Manjhi. "Galti ka parimarjan swayam karna padta hai (One has to observe penance for the wrong committed by self)," he said in reply to a question that he committed a mistake by crowning Manjhi. "Now I have to correct my decision," he added.
‘Modi govt encouraging horse-trading of MLAs’
JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, who will present over 130 MLAs before the President this evening to show that he enjoys majority support in the Bihar Assembly, accused the Modi government of encouraging “horse-trading” of MLAs in the state and alleged collusion by the Governor.
The former Bihar Chief Minister, who has been elected the JD(U) Legislature Party Leader in place of Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, said it was obvious that a majority of MLAs supported him and alleged that the delay by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in taking a decision was to hamper the formation of a new government.
Kumar arrived here from Patna yesterday evening, along with the MLAs supporting him, in two commercial flights. He is scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee at 7 P.M., accompanied with party president Sharad Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
