PATNA: The Monday’s spat between CM Nitish Kumar and state assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha had its impact on Tuesday when the House proceedings were paralysed over the issue.
Neither the speaker nor the CM attended the House proceedings on Tuesday. Even leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was absent.
The House sat only for half-an-hour and saw two adjournments – one each in the pre-lunch and post-lunch sessions – amid noisy scenes created by the opposition members. In the post-lunch session, the budgetary demand of the rural development department for 2022-23 was passed by voice vote, with a brief and inaudible speech by minister Shrawan Kumar.
From among the opposition, the RJD members wore black badges and called the spat between the CM and speaker as the “black day” for democracy. They demanded that both the speaker and CM give their “explanations” on the unseemly developments that occurred on Monday.
The heartburns caused by Monday’s incident were glaringly visible.
In fact, hurt by the unprecedented frontal attack made by the CM and also the questioning by him of the way he (speaker) has been running the House, besides the charge that he had even violated constitutional norms, Speaker absented himself from personally running the House. He, however, remained in his chamber holding in-camera discussions with deputy CMs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi.
Sinha authorised senior BJP member Prem Kumar to preside over the House proceedings during the two sessions on Tuesday.
However, neither the question hour nor the zero hour could be conducted due to the noisy scenes created by the opposition members, who entered the well of the House, leading to its adjournment twice.
Unconfirmed reports said the JD(U) brass had tipped deputy speaker Maheshwar Hajare, also the party’s senior member, not to take the Chair if asked by Sinha. Implicitly, from the treasury benches, the JD(U) had left the BJP to run the House as per its will and desire.
The CM also kept himself away from the House, and in fact, went out to participate in a cultural function at Patna. Many BJP ministers too were absent from the House in the pre-lunch session, as they had gone to accompany the candidates filing nomination papers for the legislative council seats from the local body constituencies.
While Tejashwi had also absented himself from the House proceedings, he told mediapersons that the CM should seek an apology from the House for his unprecedented attack on the Speaker.
“What happened on Monday is murder of democracy. Imagine the speaker being dictated by the CM as to how he should run the House. It is dictatorial,” Tejashwi said.
Two-time BJP MLA Pawan Kuma Jaiswal said, “The party’s top leaders should immediately immediately intervene in the matter. A meeting of the BJP legislature party should also be convened to take stock of the situation. The opposition members are fishing in troubled waters as they have no interest in development.”
Neither the speaker nor the CM attended the House proceedings on Tuesday. Even leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was absent.
The House sat only for half-an-hour and saw two adjournments – one each in the pre-lunch and post-lunch sessions – amid noisy scenes created by the opposition members. In the post-lunch session, the budgetary demand of the rural development department for 2022-23 was passed by voice vote, with a brief and inaudible speech by minister Shrawan Kumar.
From among the opposition, the RJD members wore black badges and called the spat between the CM and speaker as the “black day” for democracy. They demanded that both the speaker and CM give their “explanations” on the unseemly developments that occurred on Monday.
The heartburns caused by Monday’s incident were glaringly visible.
In fact, hurt by the unprecedented frontal attack made by the CM and also the questioning by him of the way he (speaker) has been running the House, besides the charge that he had even violated constitutional norms, Speaker absented himself from personally running the House. He, however, remained in his chamber holding in-camera discussions with deputy CMs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi.
Sinha authorised senior BJP member Prem Kumar to preside over the House proceedings during the two sessions on Tuesday.
However, neither the question hour nor the zero hour could be conducted due to the noisy scenes created by the opposition members, who entered the well of the House, leading to its adjournment twice.
Unconfirmed reports said the JD(U) brass had tipped deputy speaker Maheshwar Hajare, also the party’s senior member, not to take the Chair if asked by Sinha. Implicitly, from the treasury benches, the JD(U) had left the BJP to run the House as per its will and desire.
The CM also kept himself away from the House, and in fact, went out to participate in a cultural function at Patna. Many BJP ministers too were absent from the House in the pre-lunch session, as they had gone to accompany the candidates filing nomination papers for the legislative council seats from the local body constituencies.
While Tejashwi had also absented himself from the House proceedings, he told mediapersons that the CM should seek an apology from the House for his unprecedented attack on the Speaker.
“What happened on Monday is murder of democracy. Imagine the speaker being dictated by the CM as to how he should run the House. It is dictatorial,” Tejashwi said.
Two-time BJP MLA Pawan Kuma Jaiswal said, “The party’s top leaders should immediately immediately intervene in the matter. A meeting of the BJP legislature party should also be convened to take stock of the situation. The opposition members are fishing in troubled waters as they have no interest in development.”