Patna: Rabri Devi's son Tej Pratap Yadav's wedding proved lucky for her as the state Legislative Council on Saturday issued a notification recognising her as the Leader of the Opposition.

"The state president of the RJD met me on Friday and handed me a letter requesting for the same," Council acting chairman Harun Rashid said, expressing hope that he would get help from her in running the House smoothly. "We held consultations and old files were called for. The RJD has nine members in the House and qualifies to be recognised as the main Opposition in the Council. Rabri Devi being its leader automatically qualifies to be the leader of the Opposition."

The Bihar Legislative Council's total strength is 75.

The post of leader of the Opposition, which entails perks and facilities equivalent to a cabinet minister's, was eluding Rabri Devi, because the RJD did not fulfil the criteria of having at least a tenth of the total number of MLCs, in this case at least eight. But after the last biennial polls for 11 seats, the RJD gained two seats to have a total of nine.

This will not be the first time for Rabri Devi in the role of leader of Opposition. After the 2005 Assembly polls, in which the RJD was defeated, she was leader of the Opposition in the Assembly for five years. Her performance as leader of the Opposition was not very encouraging but the party still had several MLAs who were seasoned parliamentarians. In 2009, after the RJD lost the Lok Sabha polls, several RJD MLAs had questioned the wisdom of Lalu Prasad making his wife leader of the Opposition - a post meant for a senior and accomplished parliamentarian.

In 2010, Rabri could not retain the post, as she lost in Sonepur and Raghopur Assembly seats and the party managed just 22 seats. She was made a MLC in 2012 by the party. "She has matured since 2005, even making points inside the House sometimes," said a senior RJD leader, expressing hope that this tenure will be better than the previous one.