PATNA: Senior RJD leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary on Thursday filed a nomination for the post of Speaker in the Bihar assembly, while Devesh Chandra Thakur was elected unopposed as the chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council.
The post fell vacant after the resignation of Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Wednesday. Chaudhary had emerged as the front-runner for the post of Speaker since it was decided that the post will go to the RJD. He is considered close to both Lalu Prasad and his younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
The RJD is the largest party with 79 MLAs in the assembly. Chaudhary is tipped to be elected unopposed to the post in view of the numerical strength of the RJD-led grand-alliance in the assembly. JD(U) minister Shravan Kumar said that Choudhary would be elected as Speaker unopposed.
However, a notification issued by the assembly secretariat on Thursday said that the voting is scheduled to take place for the Speaker’s post on Friday. On Wednesday, the Bihar cabinet had passed a proposal to extend the special session up to August 26.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and JD-U national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh and other leaders were present as the RJD nominee filed his nomination papers before the assembly secretary. Chaudhary is a six-time MLA from Siwan. He was also a minister in the Rabri Devi government. He had contested for the Speaker’s post in 2020 but lost to his predecessor Vijay Kumar Sinha in a tight contest.
Meanwhile, JD (U) MLC Devesh Chandra Thakur was elected unopposed as Bihar legislative council chairman. The BJP has nominated former Bihar assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha as leader of the opposition in the assembly, while former minister Samrat Choudhary as leader of opposition in the state legislative council, respectively.
The BJP by appointing Sinha and Choudhary has tried to woo Bhumihars (a dominant upper caste) and Kushwaha (an OBC). Both are considered as critics of Nitish. Sinha demanded two reports of the assembly’s committees including ethics committee in the House on Friday. He said that special debates should be held on them. He said that the assembly’s schedule fixed for Wednesday was suddenly tweaked and these reports were not tabled in the House.
Sinha said that he had also written to the assembly secretary and parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary of JD(U) in this regard. Leader of opposition in the state legislative council Samrat Choudhary also demanded tabling of reports in the assembly on Friday.
CBI raids a ‘tactic to harass the poor’, says Tejashwi
Patna: As CBI raids in the land-for-jobs scam coincided with the grand alliance winning the Assembly trust vote, CM Nitish Kumar told the media to “wait,” while his deputy Tejashwi Yadav accused the Centre of harassing the poor. “Just keep watching as things unfold,” Nitish said. Tejashwi denied any wrongdoing, saying, “ I am not going to be scared.”
He said his name was dragged into the Gurugram-based mall controversy though he had nothing to do with it. “I have furnished proof. Why is action not being taken against those who are selling national wealth and where drugs worth crores are found?,” he asked. Tejashwi said those appointed in Group D jobs in the railways were from poor families. “We have been watching these raids for two-and-a-half decades. They (BJP) can put all opposition leaders in jail. People will fight against them,” the RJD leader added.