Amidst uproar from opposition, BJP MLA from Lakhisarai Vijay Kumar Sinha was elected as Bihar Assembly Speaker with voice vote on Wednesday. He became the first BJP leader to be elected for the post of Speaker. Opposition RJD members opposed the election through voice voting citing the presence of Legislative Council members especially chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Earlier, with National Democratic Alliance putting up Vijay Sinha as the candidate for Bihar Assembly Speaker, the chance of former road construction minister and senior BJP leader, Nand Kishore Yadav, had been dashed. Vijay Sinha is a fourth term MLA from Lakhisarai Assembly constituency. Like Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad he too is considered close to former Deputy CM Sushil Modi.
The Grand Alliance had fielded senior MLA from Siwan Awadh Bihari Chaudhary as its candidate. When Nand Kishore, the MLA from Patna Saheb seat, was not inducted into the Nitish Kumar cabinet on Nov 16 it was speculated that the latter would be made Speaker.
Thus, along with former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and eight time MLA from Gaya and agriculture minister in the last Nitish cabinet, Prem Kumar, he had failed to find any place in the present set up. They may be accommodated in organizational work.
Thus, the BJP has come up with totally new faces. Though the party won five out of 14 seats from Patna district none from here has been accommodated in the cabinet. Earlier, both Sushil Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav were from Patna urban areas.
Earlier, leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and his brother Tej Pratap were present at the time of filing of nomination papers by RJD’s Awadh Bihari Chaudhary.
