The State BJP on Monday the second day of the on-going budget session objected to Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto’s decision of recognising JVM, once headed by Babulal Marandi till he merged it in the BJP, as a political party.
During the second half of the budget session, as part of legislative protocols the Speaker allotted time to political parties to debate the vote of thanks and amendment to the address of the Governor to the House. Ruling party JMM having maximum MLAs was allotted 71 minutes, while main opposition party BJP were given 64 minutes for debate, the Speaker while allotting time also allotted the Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM) having three MLAs 8 minutes.
The BJP MLA and former assembly Speaker CP Singh objected to the Speaker mentioning the JVM as the political party. “You are setting a new tradition. The time is not allotted only on the basis of the strength of a political party in the House. There is a different system for this. The second point is that you have allotted eight minutes for three members of the JVM. Will you let me know, who are the three MLAs of the JVM in the House?” Singh said.
The Speaker interrupted and said that he had taken note of the point Singh raised. Singh countered and said that the Speaker was avoiding the matter. “Only during the previous Rajya Sabha election, Babulal Marandi was mentioned as the BJP MLA in the electoral roll issued by you,” Singh said. He wondered that while the Assembly Speaker was still referring to the JVM as a political party, Pradeep Yadav was appointed as the deputy leader of the Congress legislative fold.
The Speaker said that the matter of three JVM MLAs and the dispute related to the merger of the JVM in the BJP was pending before his court. Hence the JVM would continue to exist till the matter was finalized.
The Speaker allotted time to JVM legislators which also included Babulal Marandi assumed importance as a BJP delegation headed by party chief Deepak Prakash submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramesh Bais, demanding the appointment of party legislative party leader Babulal Marandi as leader of opposition. The party is upset with Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto decision not to accord LoP status to Marandi even after the passing of more than two years.
Marandi, earlier heading the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) had won three seats in the Assembly elections held in December 2019. On February 11, 2020, he merged his party with the BJP and he was declared as the leader of its legislature fold. While Marandi joined the BJP, the two other JVM (P) MLAs, Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey who were dismissed from the party on different occasions joined the Congress.