CPI-ML (Liberation) MLA from Katihar district's Balrampur Mahboob Alam climbed atop the reporters' table in the Well of the House and started raising anti-government slogans, triggering chaos in the post-lunch session on Thursday.

Expectedly, he drew admonition from the Speaker. "I will take strong disciplinary action if anyone indulges in an act of indiscipline," said Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary. He asserted that he was willing to give everyone time to put across their point of view but no one would be allowed to breach the House discipline.

The Speaker was visibly angry. One of the Assembly watch and ward staff walked close to the table around which several Opposition MLAs stood. The security staff, however, walked off as the Speaker adjourned the House immediately after, expressing displeasure at the MLA's act.

The drama began as soon as the House assembled in the post-lunch session at 2pm. As soon as the Speaker had taken his seat, RJD MLA Lalit Yadav raised the flood issue. It worked like a signal for other Opposition members who rushed to the Well of the House raising slogans against deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

When the Speaker urged the Opposition members to go back to their seats, senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui stood up to speak, asking his party MLAs to stay silent. Siddiqui said the Chair would not consider their adjournment moves. When the Speaker reminded him of the rules, Siddiqui insisted that adjournment could be entertained in special circumstances.

Thereafter, road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav intervened and said the Opposition members could not dictate terms to the chair. He said the Opposition members didn't want a discussion and were more interested in staging protest.

His assertion infuriated the Opposition members who started raising anti-government slogans once again and Alam climbed the reporters' table. The speaker adjourned the House till 4.55pm. When the House resumed its business at the scheduled time, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav again demanded adjournment of the House. When the Speaker didn't entertain his demand, Opposition MLAs, who had again rushed to the Well of the House by that time, staged a walkout.

With no Opposition in the House, the Assembly passed the Bihar Appropriation Bill, 2017, which gave permission to the government to spend Rs 18,313.74 crore in the current fiscal under different heads.

After passage of the bill, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi also delivered a brief speech on the flood issue and maintained that while the Prime Minister and the chief minister were working in tandem to mitigate the plight of flood-hit people, the Opposition was not willing to have a serious discussion in the House.

Modi spoke about Nitish Kumar's tour to assess flood-relief work. His speech drew applause of the treasury benches and even Nitish, who took part in the proceedings of the post-lunch session of the House, was seen thumping the desk in appreciation.