Patna : Nitish Kumar won a trust vote comfortably today, ensuring he will remain chief minister of Bihar.

Mr Kumar landed 126 votes; his party, the Janata Dal United or JD(U),  provided 117 of those.  The Congress and independent legislators accounted for the rest.

24 legislators voted against him.  

The BJP, with who Mr Kumar ended a 17-year alliance with on Sunday over its decision to place Narendra Modi in charge of its election campaign, decided to boycott the vote today, partly to escape  the embarrassing likelihood of some of its members supporting the chief minister.

The Congress has said that its support for Mr Kumar should not be seen as the blueprint of a new alliance. But the sweet-talk from both sides suggests otherwise.

On Monday, the Prime Minister praised the chief minister as “a secular leader.” Today, in his speech to the legislature, Mr Kumar thanked the PM and his party for its support.

The Congress and Mr Kumar, like other detractors of Mr Modi, accuse him of being a divisive leader.  Mr Modi was at the helm when riots lacerated Gujarat in 2002, leaving hundreds of Muslims dead. Mr Modi and the BJP have rejected charges that he didn’t do enough to protect them.