Veteran RJD leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was on Friday unanimously elected as Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly after Vijay Kumar Sinha, against whom a no confidence motion was moved by the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, resigned Wednesday, reported news agency PTI.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Vijay Kumar Sinha, who is now the Leader of the Opposition, escorted the new speaker, Awadh Bihari Chaudhary to the Chair.
The proceedings were, however, marked by BJP members creating a ruckus over “dropping” from the list of businesses a report of the Ethics Committee.
The BJP MLAs had entered the House carrying placards and raising slogans demanding tabling of the report, and entered the well when Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari took the Chair.
However, as Hazari ordered commencement of the Speaker’s election, the BJP members relented and took their seats.
The issue of the Ethics Committee report was raised by Sinha, in his congratulatory speech, while the Speaker asked him to keep it focused on the agenda of the day.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav were among those who spoke on the floor of the House to congratulate Chaudhary, a several-term MLA from Siwan.
A special session of the House is underway in which the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) had proven its majority on the floor two days ago.
The seven-party coalition assumed power after Kumar, with his JD(U), quit the NDA over alleged attempts by BJP to “break” the regional party.
He joined the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, which is helmed by the RJD and includes Congress, CPIML(L), CPI(M) and CPI.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Kumar Sinha, who had been served a no-confidence motion, resigned from his position. Sinha had claimed that the motion against him was ‘unclear’ and that eight of the nine letters were not as per rule but stood down anyway.
“Bowing before majority, I resign as speaker”, said Vijay Kumar Sinha inside Bihar Assembly.
The decison by Sinha was taken just before the Mahagathbandhan led by Nitish Kumar was to face a floor test in the assembly.
(With PTI inputs)