PATNA: Newly sworn-in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday chaired the first meeting of the cabinet, in which it was decided to convene the special session of Bihar Assembly on August 24 and 25 to prove the majority of the Grand Alliance (GA) government. On the first day of the session, a new Speaker of the assembly will be elected by the legislators of the seven-party alliance, which have given their support to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to form the government.
A decision to convene the special session of the Assembly was taken at the first meeting of the cabinet chaired by Nitish Kumar. Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav attended the meeting of the cabinet as well. On August 25, the Mahagathbandhan government will prove its majority on the floor of the House.
In a letter submitted to Governor Phagu Chauhan, Nitish had claimed the support of 164 MLAs of seven parties and one Independent legislator. After taking oath as the CM for the eighth time, he told the media on Tuesday that the expansion of the cabinet will take place after consultation with the members of GA.
However, the date and time of the expansion of the cabinet have not been revealed yet. Sources said there would be 35 ministers in the new cabinet, with RJD having the largest number of ministers. According to sources, the departments that were earlier with BJP ministers in the NDA government would be allotted to RJD ministers.
Meanwhile, a no-confidence motion will be moved against incumbent Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who didn’t resign from the post even after the NDA government was dissolved by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The discussion on the no-confidence motion against Sinha will also be held during the special session.
On August 9, CPI-ML legislator Mehboob Alam wrote a letter to the secretary of Bihar Vidhan Sabha, demanding the removal of Sinha from the Speaker’s post under sub-rule 10 of Bihar Assembly Conduct Rule.
Meanwhile, security around JD-U office on Bir Chand Patel Marg in Patna has been beefed up. Additional police forces have been deployed outside the office of the party, which broke its alliance with the NDA and joined hands with the Mahagathbandhan to form the new government.
Nitish kumar
Changing the course, again
In his decades-long career, Nitish Kumar has been a steady force in Bihar’s politics, and almost shows what it means when people say, ‘change is the only constant’. And not for no reason is he called in jest as ‘palti putra’. Nitish, 71, began his political journey from Samajwadi Yuv Jan Sabha but took centre stage during the 1974 movement led by JP Narayan. After two losses, he won Narnaut assembly seat in 1985. He later became a Lok Sabha member from Barh, and served as minister in Vajpayee’s government. After parting ways from Janata Dal, he joined Samata Party. Then he formed Janata Dal-United. In 2000, Nitish became the CM for the first time but quit after six days due to lack of majority. In 2005, he became the CM again when NDA came to power. In 2013, he split with NDA and fought 2014 LS poll on his own, getting two seats. He quit as CM and propped Jitan Ram Manjhi to the post. In 2015, he fought the polls with Grand Alliance, only to leave in 2017. He then fought LS and assembly polls with NDA. The ties were again broken by him on Monday.
Tejashwi yadav
Son shines bright, for now
For his family at least, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is living up to his name. The 33-year-old son of former chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, Tejashwi made his debut in electoral politics in 2015 and became a member of Bihar assembly from Raghopur, which was earlier represented by his father and mother. In 2017, Tejashwi’s name figured in a money laundering case, relating to illegal land transactions that allegedly took place during Lalu’s tenure as the railways minister in 2004, when the scion himself was in his teens. He became the leader of opposition after Nitish walked out of Grand Alliance camp in 2017. Tejashwi campaigned rigorously for his party, RJD, in the 2020 assembly election in the absence of his father, and RJD emerged as the single largest party. However, his bonhomie with Nitish was noticed at Iftar parties earlier this year. As the year progressed, JD-U and RJD came closer on several issues like caste-based census.