
PATNA: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla arrived in the state capital late on Sunday to inaugurate the 85th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference (AIPOC) today.
Birla later called on newly appointed Bihar Governor Mohammad Arif Mohammad Khan at Raj Bhavan.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will not be present at the conference as he is busy with the 'Pragati Yatra'. On Monday, Nitish will be in Supaul and will stay in Madhepura overnight. Earlier, Bihar Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav and Chairman of the Legislative Council Awadhesh Narayan Singh welcomed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at Patna airport.
During the two-day conference, dignitaries will participate in brainstorming sessions on the '75th Anniversary of the Constitution: Contribution of Parliament and State Legislative Bodies in Strengthening Constitutional Values'. The Lok Sabha Speaker will unveil the 8th edition of a book titled Sansadiye Padhyati Evam Prakirya on Monday.
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, Assembly Deputy Speaker Narendra Narayan Yadav, Presiding Officers of Legislatures of States and UTs, a number of Bihar Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, and other dignitaries have reached Patna to grace the occasion.
The valedictory session will be addressed by Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and Lok Sabha Speaker Birla on Tuesday. During the conference, Shri Birla will release the 8th edition of Practice and Procedure of Parliament.
Birla will also inaugurate the Neva Seva Kendra in the Bihar Legislature premises on Tuesday.
State Assembly Speaker Yadav said that the last time Bihar hosted the conference was in 1982 when Radhanandan Jha was the Speaker. Prior to this, the state hosted the conference on 6th and 7th January 1964 when Lakshmi Narayan Sudhanshu was the Assembly Speaker.
Yadav said that the first session of the AIPOC was held in 1921 in Shimla. The 84th AIPOC was held at the Maharashtra Legislature premises in Mumbai on 27th and 28th January last year. He added that the 82nd AIPOC, which marked the completion of 100 years of the first AIPOC session, was once again held in Shimla in November 2021. The two-day event will conclude on Tuesday.