PATNA: Senior BJP leader Awadhesh Narain Singh has been appointed as the Acting Chairman of the state legislative council in Bihar, official sources said here on Wednesday.
A recommendation to the effect has been sent to Governor Phagu Chauhan, they said. The Upper House had been headless for more than a month as the term of JD(U) leader Haroon Rashid, who was the Deputy Chairman but had been officiating as the Chairman for close to three years, expired in May.
Notably, Singh who has in the past also served as a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet had previously headed the Vidhan Parishad for five years.
Known to be close to the Bihar chief minister, he was unanimously elected as the Chairman in 2012 and held the post for the BJP till the expiry of his tenure as MLC in 2017.
Although he got re-elected to the legislative council again, the post of the Chairman became a major bone of contention between the JD(U), and Lalu Prasads RJD which was then sharing power with Nitish Kumars party.
The RJD had contended that despite being the party with more MLAs it had agreed to JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary becoming the Speaker of the assembly and, hence, it expected the chief minister to return the favour by appointing one of its MLCs as the Chairman.
Relations between the two allies had evidently begun to sour, ending in Kumar breaking away and returning to the NDA a few months later.
Appointment of a full-time Chairman has, however, remained a political hot potato.
Nonetheless, having an Acting Chairman was necessary for convening a session of the House, whenever it was scheduled.
Meanwhile, elections for nine vacant seats in the legislative council, including the one which was held by Haroon have been announced and voting is scheduled to take place on July 6.
Filing of nominations would begin with the issuing of notification on Thursday.
All major parties are yet to decide their candidates though the NDA, which held all the nine vacant seats, may have to concede a few to the RJD-led opposition because of the changed arithmetic in the Vidhan Sabha.