Patna, Aug. 21: The short monsoon session of the Bihar Legislative Houses started on a tame note on Monday to the surprise of many observers.
"It's the starting day and we will follow the rituals," said senior RJD MLA Mudrika Singh Yadav.
The session is being held under the shadow of the Srijan scam and unprecedented floods in Bihar. Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, however, did mention the floods. "Around 18 districts are reeling from floods. A population of over 10 million has been effected. It is a matter of concern for all of us. In this moment of natural calamity, we express our sympathy for the flood victims and it is our responsibility to help the them with all our resources," he remarked.
The government is aware that the next four days will be stormy as the RJD and the Congress will try to pin down the government on Srijan and the state government's alleged failure in providing relief to the flood victims. The Speaker did emphasise on the need for debates to find solutions to make the House relevant. However, even as the government tabled its first supplementary budget and Bihar Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill, 2017, it fully knows that it is going to be a noisy session that will conclude on August 25.
On Monday, the Assembly and the Council went through the rituals and ended by making obituary references to departed leaders. There was more action outside the House as former chief minister Rabri Devi and former deputy chief ministry Tejashwi Yadav demanding a court-monitored CBI probe and BJP minister Binod Narayan Jha taunting Tejashwi not to worry about investigations as the case had already been handed to the CBI.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar spoke to a section of the media declared that he would not oppose a court-monitored CBI probe. "But that decision has to be taken by the court," he remarked, stressing that no guilty person would be spared.
RJD MLAs did not appear pleased over the timing of the House session.
"We would have been liked to remain in our constituencies and mobilise crowds to come to Gandhi Maidan on August 27. Our work has anyway been made difficult by the floods," said an RJD MLA.
