Bihar GA to boycott assembly if budget session is curtailed, says Tejashwi Yadav

Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday cautioned the government that any attempt to curtail the upcoming budget session would be opposed tooth and nail by the Rashtiya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Grand Alliance. He said that Grand Alliance leaders would boycott the assembly and gherao the residences of the chief minister and deputy chief minister.

Yadav accused the government of running away from dealing with burning issues, claiming that this was the reason why there was talk of the budget session being curtailed. The Leader of the Opposition said he had expressed his opposition to the idea of a truncated budget session during his interaction with Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Sunday.

“I have advised Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha that an all-party meeting should be called to decide the schedule of the budget session. The government is keen that budget be called early and truncated to four days which is totally unacceptable to us. If the House is not convened for the budget session that lasts over one-and-a-half months, we will boycott the session and also gherao the chief minister’s and deputy chief minister’s residence,” he said at a press conference.

Earlier, he held a meeting with Grand Alliance leaders, including Congress state president Madan Mohan Jha, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation state secretary Kunal and other allies. Yadav said the government’s argument that a vaccine for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) would be fully rolled out by March was only an assumption as no date had been fixed.

“Even if the vaccine is rolled out fully by March, what is wrong if the budget session goes on ? It would rather help because MLAs would be able to get feedback as how the vaccination drive is going on in the state and what are the shortcomings. The officers would be under pressure to implement the drive with more alertness,”he said.

Accusing the state government of doing little on the front of eradicating unemployment, implementation of state schemes and failing on the law and order front, Yadav said the very fact that the House sat for only four days last year was an indicator of how the government is shying away from discussing core issues related to common people. “In this new House, several MLAs are newcomers who have to learn about legislative business. If the House is truncated, how will they raise people’s issues and learn about legislative business? This is why we want the budget session to be conducted in a traditional manner,” he said.

Human chain to protest against farm laws

Slamming the Central government for failing to resolve the protests over the farm laws, Yadav said the Grand Alliance was in full support of the farmers and would form a human chain in solidarity with them on January 30 across the state.

“The farm laws are totally against the farmers and are an attempt to hand over the agriculture sector to private players. The Grand Alliance partners have decided to form a human chain on January 30 to show support to protesting farmers and withdrawal of the farm laws,” he said. He added the Central and state governments were totally insensitive towards the protesting farmers.

Yadav also said the agriculture sector in Bihar had suffered big damage due to the Nitish Kumar government’s decision in 2006 to scrap agriculture marketing boards. “In Bihar, the migration and unemployment of farm labourers have increased drastically over the last 14 years because of the scrapping of marketing boards. The farm sector has completely been ruined and farmers are now forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices,” he said.

On the reports of a rift between Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the RJD leader said the JD(U) is getting back what it had done to others. “JD(U) had betrayed us and now it is getting the same treatment,” he said.