Free-for-all in Bihar Assembly

The Bihar Assembly witnessed one of its ugliest moments when MLAs of the ruling NDA and the Opposition’s RJD and Left parties clashed inside the House on Tuesday. More than dozen legislators were injured in the melee.

The Bihar Assembly witnessed one of its ugliest moments when MLAs of the ruling NDA and the Opposition’s RJD and Left parties clashed inside the House on Tuesday. More than dozen legislators were injured in the melee.

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The clash took place soon after an aggressive Opposition demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the wake of the CBI probe into the Rs 11,412-crore irregularities in execution of welfare schemes.

The CBI probe was ordered by the Patna High Court on July 15 on the basis of a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer after the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report pointed to non-reconciliation of the huge amount from 2002-2007.

Trouble began during the post-lunch session, when Opposition members stormed into the well of the House,raising anti-government slogans, and overturned one of the two tables of the assembly reporters.

Amid the pandemonium, some CPI-ML members tried to snatch official papers from assembly reporters at the other table.

The melee continued for 10 minutes before the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

An enraged Opposition, whose MLAs were at the receiving end, dubbed the episode as “a show of hooliganism” and accused the chief minister of provoking NDA MLAs to resort to violence.

Nitish Kumar refuted the charge, calling the Opposition ruckus as “a cheap publicity stunt” to derive political mileage. “They were hell-bent on disrupting the House instead of participating in a debate. They have lost their base and are now indulging in antics,” he said.

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