Bihar Speaker’s peculiar decision : JD (U) MLAs to sit in both Opposition and Treasury bench during Manjhi’s floor test

19 Feb, Patna

In a peculiar political development ,Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary has decided that all Janta Dal(U) MLAs including those with Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi camp would seat in Opposition while the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues would sit on the treasury bench.

The Manjhi government will seek a trust vote tomorrow – Friday.

Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said the sitting arrangements decided by the Speaker were unconstitutional as the JD(U) MLAs would for the first time will sit in both Opposition and Treasury benches.

The JD(U) has altogether 109 MLAs besides the Speaker. As Jitan Ram Manjhi has been declared an unattached member of the House, the BJP with 87 members and four Independents siding with Manjhi will sit in the middle aisle between Treasury and Opposition benches, while RJD, Congress and CPI members will sit by the side of the Opposition benches.

Meanwhile, the Speaker has refused to recognize Rajiv Ranjan as the chief whip nominated by Jitan Ram Manjhi. Instead the Speaker declared that Shravan Kumar continued to be chief Whip of the JD(U) and those violating his whip would invite disqualification under the Anti-Defection Laws.