Patna: The pre-lunch session of the state legislative Council witnessed a strange situation on Friday, the last day of the winter session of the state legislature. It happened when RJD members tried to join a BJP MLC on an issue which had been raised by the latter during Question Hour.

As soon as the House started Question Hour after a 15-minute disorder at the beginning of business, when RJD legislators were raising slogans against the government standing in the Well of the House, a question related to appointment of school teachers was raised by BJP MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav.

Education minister Krishnanandan Verma came up with a reply which failed to satisfy the BJP legislator.

Nawal stood up and said his question had not been answered properly and then said something about department officials providing a vague reply to the minister with which he came in the house.

Deputy chairman Harun Rashid came up with a ruling that the word used against officers would be expunged from House proceedings.

As this juncture, RJD MLC Subodh Rai stood up and started saying the government was not coming up with clear-cut answers and misguiding the House. Subodh's intervention didn't go down well with the BJP MLC who asked the RJD MLC not to exhibit his intelligence in the house.

His comment followed strong reactions from the RJD camp and they became aggressive and also started speaking against the BJP MLC simultaneously. Even Rabri Devi, the former chief minister and senior RJD leader, joined them.

While Nawal was countering their barbs, JDU MLCs Sanjay Singh and Niraj Kumar started speaking in support of the BJP lawmaker.

Amid this exchange of barbs, senior legislator and CPI leader Kedar Pandey intervened and urged all members to follow the directive issued by the chair.

Deputy chairman Harun Rashid too reminded the members that their conduct was being observed by people.

These interventions, however, could not restore order in the House and the angry exchange of words continued between the RJD members and the BJP MLC. As tempers rose, RJD members came into the Well of the House and started demanding an apology from Nawal.

After waiting for a few minutes, the deputy chairman adjourned the House till 2pm.

Later, Rabri told journalists that the conduct of BJP and JDU members in the House was not good.

Rabri ED date

After skipping summonses six times, Rabri Devi is expected to appear before the enforcement directorate (ED) in Patna on Saturday in connection with a railway hotels allotment corruption case, official sources said on Friday.

Rabri is expected to meet the investigating officer in the money-laundering case at the ED zonal office in Bihar's capital and record her statement. It is understood that the central probe agency allowed her request to be questioned in Patna and not in Delhi, where the case is registered. PTI