Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, March 13
For the first time in the recent past, unruly scenes were witnessed in the Bihar assembly when members of the treasury and opposition benches came to blows.
Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha had to adjourn the House twice as members led by the leader of opposition clashed with the ruling party members in the well of the House.
Leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was speaking on the budget demands of the health department and departed to the prohibition policy. He alleged the revenue minister, Ram Surat Rai was involved in illicit liquor trade and on Thursday, police filed FIRs against 13 people, including minister’s brother for storing liquor in the Arjun memorial School of which minister’s brother is the manager.
Yadav alleged the minister is the founder of the school opened in the name of his father. Minister, however refuted the charge and claimed his father had divided property in 2012 and the land on which school was opened belonged to his brother, hence he was innocent.
Deputy Chief Minister Raj Kishore Prasad intervened and defended the minister. The Leader of Opposition challenged the authority of the deputy CM and claimed Prasad was not holding a constitutional position like the Chief Minister. This infuriated the ruling party members who alleged opposition was leveling false charges against the minister. Yadav alleged the ruling party members were trying to silence the opposition.
Led by the Yadav brothers- Tejashwi and Tejpratap, all RJD members trooped into the well of the House inviting instant retaliation from the ruling party members. They literally came to the blows and abusive languages were heard from both the sides.
Sensing the agitated mood of the members, the Speaker adjourned the House. Later, when assembly reassembled, the chair regretted the incident and called for discipline. Parliamentary affairs ministers, Vijay Kumar Chaudhury said the unruly behaviour by the members has led to poor image of the MLAs and requested such incidents should not be repeated.
Later, the leader of the opposition addressed the media and alleged the opposition was not being allowed to discharge its duties. The chief minister is weak and incapable of leading the government. He demanded immediate dismissal of the revenue minister and produced copies of FIRs which showed the minister’s brother was also an accused. He claimed the minister had attended the annual function of the school recently.
Opposition members marched to Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Phagu Chauhan demanding action against the minister and permission to raise the issue in the House.
Speaker announced an all-party meeting of the members would be held on Monday (March 15) to discuss the current affairs of prohibition and measures to make it successful.
