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The opposition BJP in Bihar today said the Nitish Kumar-government in the state is short on numbers and is not in a position to sustain voting on any Bill in the Assembly.
"As per the letter of support given to the Governor, Nitish Kumar government enjoyed the backing of 118 MLAs of JD(U) including the Speaker and four Independents, taking the tally to 122 in the 238-member House," senior party leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters here.
Of this, a minister, Parveen Amanullah resigned from the cabinet and gave up her Assembly membership to join the Aam Admi Party and another JD(U) MLA Damodar Singh died in Jharkhand recently, reducing the Treasury Bench tally to 120, he said.
The four Congress MLAs and a lone CPI member have not given any letter of support to the Governor and just voted in favour of the trust motion moved by Kumar after his break-up with the BJP in June last year, Modi added.
"The Nitish Kumar government is short of numbers and cannot sustain voting on any Bill in the state Legislature," Modi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council said.The Budget session of the Bihar Assembly and Legislative Council is scheduled to start from February 14.
"Everybody knows about the current strained relationship between JD(U) and Congress after it became clear that the latter will be allying with RJD and LJP in the coming general elections," he said.
On a question on the two BJP MLAs - Awnish Kumar Singh and Rana Gangeshwar Singh - both suspended from the party amid speculation that they would join the JD(U), Sushil Modi said "Several JD(U) legislators and many others are in touch with us.""By breaking the alliance, Nitish Kumar has created a political turmoil in Bihar and the state will witness many others switching sides during election season," he added.
The BJP leader made light of Nitish Kumar's efforts for forging a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative alliance.
"The proposed alliance is full of contradictions," he added.Meanwhile, the BJP ridiculed the Nitish Kumar government for rejoicing on bagging the President's award for bumper wheat production in 2012-13 and said the state's performance in agriculture sector has steadily slid after the split of NDA in Bihar. "The Chief Minister is receiving claps for winning the Krishi Karman award from President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday for bumper wheat production in 2012-13. But, its ironic that the farm sector has seen a sharp decline in 2013-14 when BJP walked out of his ministry," former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. Modi alleged that agriculture was "utterly neglected" now as the Chief Minister was busy in "poaching" MLAs for survival of his government and has no time for the vital department. "While the Centre and states like Gujarat are honouring farmers, Bihar has shelved its own scheme of honouring the farmers in cold storage," he said.
