In a first major blow to RJD-led Mahagathabandan, the new NDA government in Bihar has moved a No-confidence motion against the sitting Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, who is an RJD MLA. Chaudhary was appointed as the speaker of the House 18 months ago when Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP to form the Mahagathbandhan government in the state.
Notably, a day after Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA folds, ditching its erstwhile ruling alliance, BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav moved a notice of no-confidence motion seeking the removal of the Assembly Speaker.
The motion has been tabled to remove the Speaker in accordance with Rule 110 of the Assembly’s Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules. As part of the procedure, the Speaker against whom the No-Confidence motion has been sought can’t preside over the House and occupy the Speaker’s chair during the proceedings.
In the notice, Yadav said that since the new government has come to power, the new House does not have confidence in the present Speaker. Tarkishore Prasad (former Deputy Chief Minister); HAM chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi; JD(U)’s Vinay Kumar Choudhary, Ratnesh Sada, and other MLAs from the NDA alliance have also signed the notice seeking removal of the sitting Speaker.
For those unversed, yesterday (on 28th January), Nitish Kumar took oath as CM of the NDA government hours after he resigned from the post that he held as a representative of Mahagathabandan alliance with the RJD and Congress. After resigning, Kumar interacted with the media and explained the reason behind the move. He said that the political situation in the state changed as “everything was not alright”. He added that he tried to make things work but couldn’t.
It was for the record ninth time that Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of the state. Along with him, two Deputy CMs – Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha from BJP and 6 Ministers also took oath at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
Following yesterday’s development, the strength of the house has drastically changed. Now, as per the new House order, the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar along with two Deputy CMs from the BJP has 128 MLAs. The Opposition alliance (Mahagathbandhan) has 114 MLAs and one AIMIM MLA Akhtarul Iman claims to be neutral and does not belong to any alliance.