Lagatar24 Desk
Patna, Aug 26: Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, RJD leader, was chosen today by a unanimous vote to serve as Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
The position had become empty following Vijay Kumar Sinha’s resignation, for which the ‘Mahagathbandhan,’ which recently took office in the state, had filed a motion of no confidence.
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister, and Sinha, a senior BJP official who is now the leader of the opposition, escorted Chaudhary to the chair.
However, the proceedings were marked by BJP members objecting to the “dropping” of a report from the Ethics Committee from the list of businesses. The investigation focused on numerous RJD MLAs’ actions in March of last year, during which Sinha was held hostage for a number of hours within the Speaker’s chamber. At the time, the RJD was in the opposition.
When Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari took the chair, the BJP members who had stormed the House with placards and raised chants to demand the report’s tabling entered the well. But as Hazari gave the order to begin the Speaker’s election, the BJP members gave in and sat down.
Sinha brought up the Ethics Committee findings during his speech of congratulations, but the Speaker asked him to keep it on the day’s agenda.
Several members of the House, including Chaudhary, a Siwan MLA with a number of terms, heard speeches on the floor of the House from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.
The “Mahagathbandhan” (Grand Alliance) has demonstrated its majority in the House at a special session that began two days ago.
After Kumar, with his JD(U), left the NDA over alleged attempts by the BJP to “break” the regional party, the seven-party coalition came into power.
