Assembly loses morning session after ruckus during SIR discussion
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Patna: The state assembly lost its morning session on Wednesday, when an all-party discussion on the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, initiated by the leader of the opposition,
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav
, ended with speaker Nand Kishore Yadav adjourning the House after some members of the treasury benches didn't pay heed to an order.
The House was adjourned within 24 minutes of the start of the morning session following a heated exchange of words between deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha, and urban development and housing minister Jibesh Kumar, and senior RJD member Bhai Birendra over an unsavoury remark against CM
Nitish Kumar
.
The Wednesday's session, however, started on a positive note, as CM Nitish and the speaker met in the latter's chamber before the start of the morning session, and decided an all-party discussion on the SIR.
Like Tuesday, the opposition continued with its black dress code and a dharna under the portico of the assembly building before the House met.
The morning session started with the speaker criticising Tuesday's ruckus. "A few assembly employees were hurt. Ensuring security and 'samman (dignity)' to the employees of the House is the responsibility of all of us," the speaker said, and asked Tejashwi to first make his statement to initiate the discussion on the SIR exercise.
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However, after a while, the CM interrupted Tejashwi, saying the coming assembly elections were going to be tough for the opposition, especially Tejashwi, whom he described as a "bachcha (child)" who did not know how bad the situation was in the state when his father Lalu Prasad and mother Rabri Devi had ruled before 2005.
When the CM had taken his seat, senior RJD member Bhai Birendra, seated in the front row with Tejashwi, made an unsavoury remark in a muffled voice, irritating deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha, also a former speaker of the House, seated in the front row of the treasury benches with the CM.
He stood up and asked the speaker to seek apology from Birendra, and take action against him.
Birendra shot back: "The House does not belong to anyone's father." It exacerbated the situation, as more members from the ruling NDA demanded action against the RJD member.
Tejashwi later stood up and apologised on his party member's behalf: "It was not meant to hurt anyone. If anyone is hurt, I apologise, but the matter is not so big as is being made."
But Sinha, minister Jibesh and some others on the treasury benches were not convinced, and demanded apology directly from Birendra, while the speaker asked them to be silent and sit down. His orders, however, fell on deaf ears, and he adjourned the House to meet again for the post-lunch session.
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