Vijay Kumar Sinha Resigns As Bihar Assembly Speaker

Bharatiya Janta Party’s Vijay Kumar Sinha on Wednesday resigned as the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly ahead of a floor test to prove the majority of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance government led by the chief minister Nitish Kumar.

JD(U)’s Narendra Narayan Yadav, whose name was recommended by Sinha will chair the floor test now.
Sinha’s resignation came after a no-confidence motion against him was moved by the MLAs of the ruling coalition.

Sinha had earlier said the notice for the motion, received at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat was unclear and did not follow the rules and regulations.

“I would like to tell you that your no-confidence motion is unclear. Eight of the nine letters, which were received were not as per rule,” said Sinha.

He also said that casting allegations on the Chair would send out a negative message to the public.

“The Chair is ‘Panch Parmeshwar’. What message do you want to give by casting suspicions on the Chair? People will make a decision,” the BJP leader said addressing the House

MLAs from BJP protested outside Bihar Assembly, ahead of the floor test of Nitish Kumar-led government.

Ex-Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad said, “We’ve come here for the Assembly Session.”

Meanwhile, earlier today, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the residences of leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) reportedly in connection with the “land for jobs” scam.

The raids were conducted at the properties linked to RJD MLC Sunil Singh and three MPs Ashfaque Karim, Faiyaz Ahmed and Subodh Roy.

The RJD has questioned the timing of the raids on the day when the newly formed Bihar government faces a trust vote on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. Manoj Jha, RJD MP said the raids were done on purpose to intimidate the party’s legislators.

“It is being done intentionally. There is no meaning to it. They are doing it thinking that out of fear, MLAs will come in their favour,” said Singh, RJD MLC and Chairman of Bihar state co-operative marketing union ltd. (BISCOMAUN) whose house was raided.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said, “Useless to say that it is a raid by ED or IT or CBI, it is a raid by Bharatiya Janata Party. They work under BJP now, their offices run with BJP script. Today is Floor Test (in Bihar Assembly) & what’s happening here? It has become predictable,” said.

Opposition MLAs also gathered outside Bihar Assembly to demand the resignation of Speaker VK Sinha

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar faces a trust vote on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader had stepped down as Bihar CM after exiting from the BJP-led NDA alliance and joining hands with the RJD. He was sworn in as the chief minister for a record eighth time.

The Grand alliance Bihar government comprises JD(U), RJD, Congress, CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) and has a combined strength of more than 160 in the 243-strong House. (ANI)