The ugly spat between Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Monday could have been avoided in the larger public interest, feel political experts.
Vijay Sinha, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, is the Speaker of the House, which has 243 members.
All the MLAs belong to different political parties, but while in the house, they owe allegiance to the chair and hence address the chair while raising any issue, which is the precedent.
WHAT HAPPENED ON MONDAY?
As Kumar entered the House, the BJP members were taking up the issue of the alleged rising crime graph in Lakhisarai, from where Speaker Sinha is the MLA.
Darbhanga BJP MLA Sanjay Sarawgi raised the question over the nine murders that took place in Lakhisarai in January, while home minister in-charge Bijendra Prasad Yadav was responding to the allegations.
The CM was listening to all the allegations and counter-allegations, as he also holds the home portfolio.
As minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and BJP MLA Arun Shanker couldn’t give a satisfactory response, the Speaker put the question on hold and gave the government two more days to reply.
Angry, Kumar said the government was looking into the matter and it was wrong on part of Sinha to allow the matter to be raised inside the House “again and again”. Kumar spoke for a few minutes, quivering with rage and stunning the House into silence.
The Speaker, who has previously served under Kumar as a cabinet minister, said he respected the latter’s knowledge of the Constitution and experience, but expressed helplessness he felt in dealing with a recalcitrant bureaucracy.
The Bihar assembly was on Tuesday adjourned within minutes of commencement of proceedings following a ruckus created by the Opposition which linked Sinha’s absence to his alleged insult by Kumar.
IN THE PAST
The spat between the Speaker and the chief minister grew bitter and more personal as Lakhisarai had been in the news over the alleged misbehaviour of local Lakhisarai SHO and administration with Sinha.
On the day of Saraswati Puja in February, a youth, sitting as a spectator was arrested for violating Covid protocol, while no action was taken against the organisers of the puja. As the local MLA from Lakhisarai, Sinha demanded the release of the youth and action against the guilty, including police officers.
Sinha was reportedly peeved as the police officer concerned, who reportedly misbehaved with him, was not removed.
Later, this matter was referred to the privilege committee for investigation.
ALLIANCE TROUBLE
In a house of 243 seats, the BJP has 74 members and JD (U) has 43 members. Of late, according to sources, the chasm between both the parties is widening.
Nitish Kumar, being the CM, has absolute control over bureaucracy, they say, while the anger within the BJP is simmering as their members have started to assert themselves.
There is a sense of discontent among BJP members, as their advice and needs are not looked into, according to sources. Bureaucrats and police officers do not pay heed to their issues and show utter disregard to BJP legislators, say sources.
Before the recent incident, Kumar and Sinha had a tête-à-tête to iron out the controversy, but did not divulge the details of what transpired in the meeting.
Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav said the government has become a “troubled engine.”
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