PATNA: The Bihar Assembly on Tuesday witnessed ruckus after the opposition parties sought apology from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his alleged "insult" of Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Monday.
Notably, the Speaker didn't attend the House proceedings on Tuesday and remained in his chamber in the Assembly. Nitish, too, abstained from the proceedings and chose to offer chadar at the famous Manersharif dargah on the outskirts of the capital.
The Speaker has been miffed with some arrests in a case of prohibition violation in Lakhisarai and the privilege committee had last week recommended action against a couple of police officials who were disrespectful towards Sinha when he broached the matter with them. The contention of Nitish was that the government was looking into the matter and it was wrong on part of Sinha to allow the matter to be raised inside the House.
Opposition legislators came to the House wearing black badges as a mark of protest over what they described as an "insult" of the Speaker by the CM on Monday over investigation into the Lakhisarai incident. Demanding apology from Nitish, leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said the "game" has started in Bihar as two major constituents of the ruling NDA are trying to destroy each other.
RJD MLA Bhai Birendra said the House proceedings would remain paralysed till the chief minister apologies to the Speaker for his conduct in the House. "The Speaker is the custodian of the legislators across party lines. So it is an insult to the entire House," he added.
In the absence of Speaker, senior BJP leader Prem Kumar, who was on the Chair, tried to pacify the agitating members but in vain. Finally he adjourned the proceedings. Earlier, education minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary tried to defend Nitish in the House. "There was nothing unusual. It was a mere discussion between the Speaker and the CM over Lakhisarai incident," he said.