Bihar Speaker row: RJD not ready to give in
February 11, 2024 18:49
Bihar Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary
The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Sunday made it clear that it will give no walkover to the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar a day later when the assembly is scheduled to take up a no-confidence motion against Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary.
RJD national spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha, whose party has been claiming that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's volte face has caused resentment in the Janata Dal-United, urged legislators to vote during the motion in accordance with their conscience.
"Tomorrow, the MLAs would have to choose between two Gandhis. One is just an image inscribed on currency notes. The other was a living epitome of truth who had uttered the name of Lord Ram upon being felled by an assassin's bullets," Jha said with a rhetorical flourish.
Waving a few sheets of paper which he claimed were Supreme Court's orders on removal of an assembly Speaker passed earlier, the RJD leader said, "Going by these judgements, a no-confidence motion in the Bihar assembly must be supported by at least 122 MLAs in the 243-member assembly. We will ensure that the voting tomorrow is held within the Constitutional framework. We wish the NDA all the best."
Notably, the NDA, which includes the JD-U, the BJP, former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and an Independent, has a combined strength of 128 as against 114 MLAs of the 'Mahagathbandhan', which comprises the RJD, the Congress and three Left parties.
Jha's declamation comes in the wake of speculations that Chaudhary, who has so far refused to step down, might do so on Monday without in order to avoid the embarrassment of being voted out.
As per the business agenda released by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, the no-confidence motion against the Speaker will be taken up immediately after the governor's customary address to members of the bicameral legislature on the inaugural day of the budget session.
Jha scoffed at suggestions that RJD MLAs had been placed 'under virtual house arrest' at former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav's residence out of fear that some of them might get enticed by the NDA.
"You can see me here, outside Tejashwi Yadav's house, with my alliance partners. All the MLAs are here together voluntarily, out of solidarity. We are not like those who go into a huddle, calling it a training workshop. We also are unlike those who host a luncheon only to find that many are not turning up."
The allusion was to a two-day workshop in Bodh Gaya which is being attended by legislators of the BJP and a lunch hosted by JD-U chief whip Shravan Kumar on Friday when at least five of the party's 45 MLAs remained conspicuous by their absence. -- PTI
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