Up to govt how to run the House: Speaker

Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who was at the receiving end of an angry outburst by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday, stayed away from the House on Tuesday and said it was for the government to think how to run the House.

Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who was at the receiving end of an angry outburst by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday, stayed away from the House on Tuesday and said it was for the government to think how to run the House.

Bihar assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha. (HT Photo)

“It is for the government to think how to run the House. It is the government’s responsibility, not of the Chair. I will always want that the dignity of the legislature is maintained and no administrative anarchy is allowed to spread anywhere. Upholding the sanctity of the legislature is important,” he told HT.

Parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said that the CM had said nothing that undermined the dignity of the House. “He has always stood for the dignity of the House. The Opposition has no right to create a ruckus over it. Everyone saw how the Opposition trampled the Chair of the Speaker during the passage of the police bill last year,” he said.

The proceedings of the Assembly remained stalled all through the second half after complete disruption in the first half, as a vociferous Opposition said the incident had undermined the dignity of the House and kept shouting slogans.

Senior BJP leader Prem Kumar was in the Chair, but he could only ensure passage of the budgetary demands of four departments of rural development, rural works, environment, forests and climate change and food and consumer protection, without any debate amid Opposition boycott.

The Assembly was adjourned till 4.50 pm and when it resumed to clear the budgetary demands, the Opposition trooped into the well shouting slogans and staged a walkout.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders avoided commenting on the incident on Monday. With BJP state president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal in Delhi due to the ongoing Parliament session, a senior BJP leader said the CM should not have come down on the Speaker for no reason.