Patna: The Bihar Legislative Council saw unprecedented sloganeering by RJD MLCs, who attacked the state and central governments, chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for "falsely implicating" their party chief Lalu Prasad in CBI cases.
It started as soon as the Council convened for Question Hour and RJD MLC Subodh Kumar sprang up with an adjournment motion.
"Our party's national president has been falsely implicated by the state government and Sushil Kumar Modi in the cases registered by central agencies last year," Subodh said. "All this was done despite the fact that the CBI's legal team had said that no case of wrongdoing could be made against Lalu. Still, the cases were registered by Sushil and other leaders to ensure that the BJP comes to power in Bihar."
As the Legislative Council chairman rejected the adjournment motion, RJD legislators trooped into the well of the Upper House, placards in hand, and started shouting slogans against the government. They also focused on targeting Sushil.
Lalu's wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi and Sushil were both present in the House and quietly sat at their designated places.
As sloganeering continued and Council's deputy chairman Harun Rashid's entreaties to RJD legislators to return to their respective seats fell on deaf ears, he (Harun) proceeded ahead with the Question Hour and directed the House with short-notice and starred questions.
The situation continued for around 30 minutes during which the questions listed by RJD legislators were bypassed as they did not ask them. Harun ordered that the slogans and words used by the protesting legislators not be recorded in the proceedings of the House.
During Zero Hour, parliamentary affairs minister Shrawan Kumar stood up to tell the House that members were raising frivolous issues on the basis of newspaper reports and this practice should stop. Shrawan also criticised RJD legislators, who, he said, were wasting the time of the Council and not following the directions of the chair.
As the ruckus continued, Harun adjourned the House till after lunch.
Later, Rabri expressed disappointment over Lalu's conviction in the fourth fodder scam case. "I was expecting acquittal, but the verdict has disappointed us. We respect the decision and have full faith in the judiciary," Rabri said and added that she and her family will approach the higher courts for relief "instead of fleeing from the country like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi."
Rabri also slammed Nitish for keeping mum over violence in Darbhanga and Bhagalpur. She said Nitish was under pressure from the BJP and ready to compromise communal harmony for the sake of power.
