Legislative Council chairman Tarakant Jha addresses the news meet in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Dec. 23: Legislative Council will relive history of its first meeting through a special gathering at Bankipore Club on January 20 next year. Forty-eight nominated members had taken part in the first meeting at the club on the same date in 1913.

“We are organising a special sitting of the Upper House to relive the memory of the first sitting of the Legislative Council. We will try to enact the proceedings of the House, as it was held on January 20, 1913.We are trying to make the sitting unique so that people, especially the members of the House, can remember it,” Council chairman Tarakant Jha said at a news meet today.

The Council continued to have its meetings at different places like Wheeler Senate Hall and Secretariat Hall before moving to its present building, Vidhan Parishad Bhavan, in 1936.

Giving details of the special sitting, the chairman said the proceedings would be a part of the Council’s record. It would be held for four hours in two sessions.

The first session would be held between 11am and 1pm, while the second will commence at 3pm. A cultural programme will follow the sessions. Padmabhushan awardee Pandit Chhannu Lal Mishra and Ashish Khan, son of famous Sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, would perform.

The sessions of the Council would start with the National Song and end with the National Anthem.

Jha added: “The special matters raised which resulted in important decisions during the past 100 years of its existence would also be put up at a special sitting. The copy of important decisions taken on the first day of the council would also be presented in the House.”

Asked whether the House proceedings would take place inside the hall, he said efforts are on to do so. If it did not go according to the plan, the session would be held in the open. Explaining the sitting arrangement of a special meeting, Jha said the ministers would sit on the right hand side of the chairman followed by the members. There would also be a special gallery for former members of the Council and the press.

The total strength of the Council is 75 at present. Seventy-three members would take part in the proceedings, including chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, agriculture minister Narendra Singh, education minister P.K. Shahi and animal and fish resources minister Giriraj Singh.

Jha said he would ask the chief minister to deliver his vision of Bihar’s future for the next 100 years. The deputy chief minister would deliver a speech on employment-oriented growth.