Patna
In another tough contest, former labour minister and four-term BJP lawmaker Vijay Kumar Sinha was elected as the Speaker in Bihar Assembly on Wednesday. Sinha defeated Awadh Bihari Chaudhury of the Grand Alliance 126-114. Despite LJP president Chirag Paswan’s non-stop tirades against Nitish Kumar during elections, the lone legislator of his party sided with the NDA, while AIMIM’s 5 MLAs supported Chaudhury of RJD. The RJD and Congress members kicked up a ruckus in the House seeking eviction of ministers Ashok Chaudhury and Mukesh Sahani as they are not a member of either the Assembly or the Legislative Council.
The pro tem speaker rejected the Opp demand for secret voting. The CM later inducted the newly elected Speaker to his chair with the help of Opposition leader Tejashwi. This is for the first time after 1969 the Speaker has been chosen following a contest. The last time, Ram Naraian Mandal had defeated Dhanik Lal Mandal by 10 votes. With Sinha’s election, veteran BJP leader and ex-PWD minister Nand Kishore Yadav lost a chance to occupy the top post. Now, all the three top BJP leaders from Bihar – SK Modi, Prem Kumar and Nand Kishore Yadav – are out of power in state politics.
