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March 3, 2000
NEWSLINKS
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Nitish Kumar sworn in
Soroor Ahmed in Patna Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the 27th chief minister of Bihar on Friday evening amidst protests by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, Communist Party of India, Marxist, and other parties. The oath-taking ceremony took place at 5 pm at the Patna Raj Bhawan. Senior politicians of the National Democratic Alliance, including several Union ministers, were present on the occasion. Nitish's elevation to the post of chief minister came as a surprise since he heads a minority government that has the support of only 152 MLAs. Governor Vinod Chandra Pande has asked him to prove his majority on the floor of the state assembly within 10 days. Early today the RJD supremo chief Laloo Prasad Yadav reached Patna confident that the governor would invite his wife, Rabri Devi, to form the government as the Congress had by then given verbal support. At 9.30 pm, Rabri Devi went to meet the governor and apprised him of the latest developments. Laloo Yadav told journalists that late last night Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sadanand Singh rang up the governor from the chamber of former finance minister Manmohan Singh to convey the message that 23 MLAs of his party would support the Rabri government. He also told the governor that he would send a written letter of support on Friday morning as party president Sonia Gandhi, was away in Bhopal. However, much to his surprise, the governor invited National Democratic Alliance legislature party leader Nitish Kumar to form the government in the evening. While the NDA has the support of 152 MLAs, the total number of MLAs supporting the RJD now stands at 161. Some members, of the Communist Party of India and six Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist, have decided to abstain from voting. After the governor's decision, hundreds of RJD men, led by the party's national spokesman Shivanand Tiwary and former education minister Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav had a sit-in protest outside the Raj Bhawan gates. They raised slogans: Lok tantra ka hathyara rajyapal, murdabad, murdabad, NDA ka dalal rajyapal murdabad, murdabad. (Down with the governor, the killer of democracy, down with the governor, the middleman for the NDA). Later Laloo Yadav produced four Independent MLAs supporting his party before the newsmen and distributed copies of letters of support given by various parties. One of the Independent MLAs Ravindranath Mishra, charged that the NDA leaders forged his signature and presented this before the governor. He demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident. The final break up is: RJD 124, Congress 23, CPM 2, BSP 5, Karantikari Communist Party 2, Independents four and Marxist Co-ordination Committee one. Bihar assembly has 324 members. Since five members of the CPI and CPI-ML have decided to abstain it requires 157 to have a simple majority. On the other hand the 122-member NDA has the support of 12 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and 18 independent and smaller parties members, thus the total is 152. Former speaker of Bihar assembly Radhanand Jha of Congress, who was present at Laloo Yadav's press conference, has called for the impeachment of governor who has thrown all norms and rules to wind by calling Nitish Kumar to form the government. He said such a step was unheard of in the history of Bihar. He quoted from the Constitution to substantiate his charge that under no condition the governor can invite Nitish Kumar to form the government. However, his fortune started changing once he jumped the BJP bandwagon. He never looked back and his graph continued to go up. However, he is up to an uphill task as mustering support of majority of MLAs is not so easy. Meanwhile, Laloo Yadav has given a call for Bihar general strike on March 5. He said he will take the issue before the people's court. Thousands of his supporters thronged his residence throughout the day raising slogans in his favour. Near Patna University RJD supporters blocked the road in protest against Vinod Pande's decision.
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