Patna, Nov. 28: Senior JDU MLA and former minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is likely to get elected as Speaker of the newly constituted Assembly, which will be in session from Monday.
Sources in the ruling Grand Alliance said Chaudhary has left other claimants to the post far behind in the race. The House is scheduled to formally elect its Speaker on December 2.
Many names, like those of senior Congress leader Sadanand Singh, senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui and JDU MLA Shravan Kumar, were doing the rounds ever since the Assembly results were announced. But Chaudhary has, apparently, emerged as a “consensus” candidate with others losing their claims for various reasons.
For instance, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, whose party has the largest number of 80 MLAs, was pushing for Siddiqui as Speaker.
But, according to sources, the JDU managed to bargain for the post after Lalu bagged the deputy chief minister’s seat for younger son Tejaswi and the health minister’s portfolio for elder son Tej Pratap.
“There were two contenders for the Speaker’s position in the JDU, Shravan Kumar and Chaudhary. But Shravan is a Kurmi, the same caste as Nitish’s, and even hails from the chief minister’s home district of Nalanda. It may not have been possible to have both chief minister and Speaker from the same caste and district and still keep other backward castes in good humour,” a source said.
Moreover, Chaudhary is known as an articulate leader, well versed in legislative practices. A former banker, he is an upper caste Bhumihar known to be close to Nitish.
Congress veteran Sadanand — a nine-term MLA from Kahalgaon — was the Speaker from 2000 to 2005 when Rabri Devi was chief minister, running the government in alliance with the Congress. A section of old guards in the Congress wanted Sadanand as Speaker because of his experience and seniority.
But Lalu, believably, had “reservations” about Sadanand. First, he had his own stake. Second, the RJD chief was unhappy with some appointments Sadanand had made in the Assembly in his previous tenure.
Sources said senior Congress MLA and Dalit leader Ashok Ram, too, was eyeing the post. As the Speaker in the last Assembly, Udai Narayan Chaudhary, a Dalit, lost the election, Ashok expressed his wish that the post should go to another Dalit. But the Congress’s top brass supposedly ignored Ashok Ram’s claim.
Sadanand, the senior most member of the House, is scheduled to take oath as pro-tem Speaker tomorrow to administer oath to the newly elected MLAs, who would elect a regular Speaker on December 2.
