Veteran RJD leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary was on Friday unanimously elected as Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The post had fallen vacant upon resignation of Vijay Kumar Sinha, against whom a no confidence motion was moved by the ‘Mahagathbandhan', after it came to power in the state earlier this month.
Chaudhary was escorted to the Chair by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Sinha, a senior BJP leader, who has now become Leader of Opposition. The proceedings were, however, marked by BJP members creating a ruckus over “dropping” from list of businesses a report of Ethics Committee.
The report was on the conduct of several MLAs of RJD, which was then in opposition, in March last year when Sinha was held hostage inside Speaker's chamber for several hours. The BJP members had entered House carrying placards and raising slogans to press for demand for tabling of report, and entered well when Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari took 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 Speaker asked him to keep it focused on agenda of day. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav were among those who spoke on floor of 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 floor two days ago. The seven-party coalition assumed power after Kumar, with his JD(U), quit 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.