Bihar Congress moves MLAs amid poaching fears

Sixteen of the 19 Congress MLAs from Bihar have been relocated from the state to a resort in Hyderabad, in an apparent attempt by the party to stop them from being "poached" ahead of a trust vote next week. The Janata Dal (United), BJP, and Hindustani Awam Morcha have 128 MLAs in the 243-member assembly, with the Congress being the second largest party in the previous alliance. Although Congress has claimed that the legislators will return in time for the vote, if some fail to show up, this could give the new government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar the numbers to win the vote. The Congress has 19 MLAs in the state Assembly of which 16 were present at a meeting held to discuss the situation, which was also attended by state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and MLCs Prem Chandra Mishra and Madan Mohan Jha.