PATNA: The Bihar Congress on Sunday shifted its 16 MLAs to Hyderabad.
The move comes ahead of the floor test scheduled to take place on February 12 in Bihar.
The party has reportedly made arrangements in a luxurious resort on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Sources said that the decision to shift 16 MLAs was taken to avoid poaching attempts by the JD(U).
"16 MLAs have been shifted to Hyderabad and the rest will join them soon”, Congress insiders said.
Ahead of the relocation to Hyderabad, the Congress MLAs were summoned to Delhi. Sources said that the MLAs are likely to remain in Hyderabad till February 10. Congress State President Akhilesh Prasad Singh and other senior leaders of the party including Madan Mohan Jha are accompanying the MLAs.
“The MLAs are going to Hyderabad to congratulate the new government”, Congress State President Akhilesh Prasad Singh said.
Congress has 19 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly out of which 16 MLAs have reached Hyderabad. Sources said that the MLAs are likely to return ahead of the floor test.
“The BJP is free to take its MLAs anywhere they want. It’s good that their MLAs are traveling to other states. This will give them some awareness about development”, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary said.
“They don’t need to worry about anything, we have a clear majority to pass the floor test in the Bihar assembly”, Mr. Chaudhary added.
However, Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha slammed the Congress for taking their MLAs to other states. He said that “the Congress doesn’t have faith in their MLAs that’s why they are doing all these things”.
Earlier this week MLAs of the grand coalition led by JMM were shifted to Hyderabad amid fears of being contacted by the BJP. The JMM MLAs returned to Ranchi on Sunday evening, a day ahead of the floor test in the Jharkhand assembly.
Nitish Kumar had recently snapped ties with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan and joined hands with the BJP-led NDA in Bihar. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar on January 28.
The Nitish Kumar-led government has the support of 128 MLAs. The majority to form the government in Bihar is 121. The BJP is the largest party in the NDA government with 78 MLAs, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) has 45 MLAs, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) has 4 and one independent MLA.
