Bihar Assembly: Back in House, Speaker sues for peace, Oppn firm on CM apology

The Bihar assembly witnessed disruptions and adjournments for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, with opposition members pressing with their demand of an apology from chief minister Nitish Kumar for allegedly insulting the Chair, even as Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha appealed to members to allow the House to function normally.

The Bihar assembly witnessed disruptions and adjournments for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, with opposition members pressing with their demand of an apology from chief minister Nitish Kumar for allegedly insulting the Chair, even as Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha appealed to members to allow the House to function normally and forget a “black chapter”, an apparent reference to the CM’s outburst against him on Monday.

Bihar speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha (HT Photo)

The Speaker, who met the chief minister Tuesday evening for “truce talks”, returned to the House on Wednesday, though CM Kumar skipped the sitting for the second consecutive day, instead choosing to go to Nalanda.

“Whatever happened in the last few days was not right for the dignity of this august House. We should conduct ourselves within set rules and with dignity so that coming generations do not feel compelled to shy away from us,” Sinha said

“We have to take a pledge that whatever happened in the last few days would not be repeated and march forward,” he said.

Sinha also made a reference to his meeting with the chief minister on Tuesday evening. “He told me there was no intention to show any disrespect to the Chair,” the Speaker said. “The CM has clearly said he would work to strengthen the legislature. Nobody can undermine its authority,” Sinha said, asking the members to take their seats, but to no avail.

Before the Speaker, parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad also addressed the House, emphasizing that government and the chief minister had utmost respect for the Chair.

However, Opposition RJD members were unrelenting and demanded that the chief minister give an explanation in the House and tender an apology to the Chair. Lalit Yadav of RJD was most vocal among the members.

CPI-ML(Liberation) and Congress members also trooped to the well demanding an apology from the CM, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House till post-lunch session.

In the post-lunch session, RJD appeared to be in a conciliatory mood, but Left members again trooped into the well, shouting slogans against the chief minister.

A demand for the power department’s budgetary allocation was moved by energy minister Bijendra Kumar Yadav, to which RJD chief whip Lalit Yadav proposed a cut motion, pointing to cacophony in the House, and urged the Chair to “set the House in order”.

After pleading with the unruly members for some time, a visibly tired Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm.

The House resumed only for 10 minutes at the fag end from 4.50 pm to pass the budgetary demand of the departments of energy, prohibition, excise and registration, law and planning & development without any debate for yet another day.

At the centre of the controversy is the arrest of some people for violation of prohibition law in Lakhisarai, which is represented by Sinha, during Saraswati Puja celebrations last month. Sinha had alleged misbehaviour by local police officers when he intervened on behalf of those arrested.

On Monday, when some members raised the issue, Bijendra Yadav, a senior JD(U) leader and minister in-charge of home department, replied that “investigations were on”. The Speaker asked the minister to apprise the House of the progress in the matter two days later, which triggered an angry outburst from the chief minister, who took strong objection to a matter under police investigation being raised in assembly “again and again”.

The opposition’s contention is that the matter, which has also been referred to the privilege committee, scheduled to meet later this month, involved “the prestige of the House” and high-handedness of bureaucracy.

“The privilege committee meeting will be held on March 25 after Holi holidays,” the Speaker said today.