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| Amarendra Pratap Singh |
NDA leaders on Monday filed BJP MLA Amarendra Pratap Singh’s nomination for the deputy speaker’s post in the Assembly, signalling an end to a 35-year-old tradition of having somebody from the main opposition party for the job.
“The formal announceme-nt will be made in the House tomorrow (Tuesday),” acting secretary of the Assembly Laxmikant Jha said, adding that he has only received the BJP MLA’s proposal.
The RJD, which had earlier pledged to put up a token opposition to the NDA’s decision by fielding Ramanand Yadav as its candidate against Singh, appears to have developed cold feet all of a sudden.
“When the Speaker announced the election, our MLAs were enthusiastic (about putting an opponent). But today (on Monday) they said it would be a futile exercise,” RJD chief whip Samarath Choudhary said.
The RJD has been participating in the House proceedings for three days without its leader, Abdul Bari Siddiqui. He will return on Tuesday from London Olympics.
Around 10.30am, BJP ministers and MLAs like Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, Vijay Choudhary went to the acting secretary’s chamber and filed Singh’s nomination. “I will be happy to undertake any responsibility given to me by my party and the NDA,” said Singh, who represents Ara in the House.
The BJP leader has been vocal against the Nitish Ku-mar government inside the House. He had been a constant claimant for a ministerial berth in the NDA government from 2005. However, his claims have been repeatedly ignored.
The tradition of having somebody from the main Opposition as the deputy speaker started in 1977 by socialist icon late Karpoori Thakur. The former chief minister had asserted that the state would follow the tradition of Lok Sabha and a member of the main opposition party would get the deputy speaker’s post. Late Radhanandan Jha, a member of the Congress, was then made the deputy speaker.
Even during the Lalu-Rabri regime, when the BJP became the main opposition party, the post was with BJP MLAs. The previous NDA reg-ime, also led by Nitish, had followed the tradition and made Shakuni Choudhary the deputy speaker.
