Rabri Devi Wins Trust Vote

Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi yesterday won the trust vote in the Bihar Assembly. Rabari Devi secured the support of 194 MLAs while 110 members voted against her.

Her husband, former Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, who had sought trust vote on July 15 had managed to garner the support of 168 members. A similar combination voted in favour of Rabari Devi. The only difference being the Congress that had abstained on July 15 supported Rabari and 29 member Congress legislature party voted in favour of the motion. The CLP castigated the BJP for launching a vilification campaign against the first women Chief Minister of Bihar since independence.

 

The performance of Rabari Devi an illiterate women was more than satisfactory when she matched wits with BJP MLA and leader of the opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi. While a serious debate on the trust motion was continuing and the leader of the opposition was leveling all kinds of allegations on the present and former government, Rabari Devi caused a flutter by stating I consider Modiji as my elder brother and hence the leader of the opposition was duty bound to save her government. She also quipped that the leader of the opposition should transfer 22 acres of land which he was having in Bombay to her younger sister.

In a lighter vein she also said that she was prepared to hand over her husband in the safe custody of her elder brother (Modiji) till the time he was emnerated by the court in the fodder scam. She made this statement when the leader of the opposition alleged that an accused person against whom non-bailable arrest warrant had been issued should not be allowed to stay in the Chief Ministers official residence.

Rabari Devi unlike her husband took just two minutes to refute the allegations of the opposition parties and alleged that the BJP, Samta and the Janta Dal were out to create communal disharmony and its because of them communal riots was taking place. She appealed to the leaders of these parties ensure that an atmosphere of peace prevailed in the state.

She also requested the leaders of the opposition parties to help her government provide food, cloth and shelter to all.

Earlier initiating the debate, Sushil Kumar Modi extended a formal welcome to the first women chief minister of Bihar and said he would been happier if some younger persons had taken over the reins of the state. Modi said so far as Rabari Devi going in to the annals of the state she would hardly have a space equivalent to back of the postage stamp.

Modi said it would have to be clarified whether it was a proxy government and Laloo Prasad Yadav has brought in his wife to provide him protection and act as a sheet. We want to know whether it is a government by remote control, a petticoat government or a puppet government. Narrating the sequence of events leading to installation of his wife as a chief minister, Modi in an incisive tone said : Laloo Prasad Yadav should have resigned the day inquiry into the fodder scam was entrusted to the CBI by the orders of the High Court or on the day he was interrogated by the investigating agency for six hours. But he waited till the day his arrest become imminent.

The fact is that Laloo Prasad Yadav is afraid of going to the Jail and nobody would know it better than me as I was his comrade during the Jaya Prakash Narayan movement of 1974. I know how he used to avoid arrest by the police even at the peak of the movement.

Referring to Rabari Devis statement that elimination of corruption would her priority, Modi asked her to answer a few questions that was disturbing everybody. How can a person chargesheeted in a case of fraudulent withdrawal of public money stay at the chief ministers residence and be her escort. He also wanted to know how persons suspected to be involved in Bitumen, medicine purchase and the scandal of engineering entrance test be inducted in the new council of ministers. He said the fact that she had no answers to these questions raised doubts about she fulfilling her first promise to the people of Bihar.

In a note of caution to the chief minister, she might face a fate of Janki Ramchandran who was sworn in as the Tamil Nadu chief minister after the death of M G Ramchandran. If you are so confident of yourself, dissolve the House and seek a fresh mandate, Modi said addressing the chief minister directly.

The Congress legislature party leader, Ramshray Prasad Singh, justifying his partys stand of supporting the government led by Rabari Devi said she was elected by the RJDLP and therefore, nobody should have a grudge against it. Only those who felt frustrated at Laloo Prasad Yadav;s master stroke to keep the parties like the BJP and the Samta who were out to break the very social fabric at bay were raising such irrelevant questions the congress which have a glorious past will definitely oppose such nefarious designs.

The Janta Dal legislature party leader, Ganesh Yadav, reminded Laloo Prasad Yadav of his oft quoted statement that the Jharkhand could come into being only over his dead body and asked, whether the former chief minister still had some life left him. This created a furore in the house and he was shouted down by the RJDLP leaders. Several other leaders including the CPI legislature party leader, Ambika Prasad, Samta Party leader Shakuni Choudhry and Ravindra Charan Yadav and Ganesh Prasad Singh of the RJDLP also participated in the debate.