The BJP boycotted everything in the Assembly on Wednesday — from ministers answering for the chief minister to even the replies by Nitish Kumar himself.

The principal opposition party, which has been harping that Nitish is “over burdened” after the alliance split by having to look after the departments previously under the BJP ministers, protested answers given by other ministers related to departments under the chief minister.

“How can another minister reply to the question when the person who is actually in-charge should answer the question?” asked Leader of the Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav registering his protest and calling the trend “undemocratic”.

Nitish defended the trend before mediapersons later. “It is not the minister who is replying in the House. It is the government,” he said.

Interestingly, the BJP did not get the support of other opposition parties, like the RJD. “Their (BJP’s) protest was not logical. When they were inside the ministry, the BJP ministers used to reply to questions related to other departments when the ministers concerned were absent. Why are they protesting this trend now?” asked the RJD leader in the Assembly, Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

Ironically, during post-lunch session when Nitish was speaking on an urban development department bill related to change in the procedure of measuring houses for calculating holding tax, the BJP legislators staged a walkout.

“The BJP is trying to make an issue out of a non-issue. They are not present in the House even though I am speaking on the urban development department,” Nitish said. The department is one of the 18 the chief minister holds after the BJP ministers were dismissed.