Patna: Senior JD (U) leader and Bihar minister Shrawan Kumar on Thursday rejected the claim of assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary that he came to know about the no-confidence motion against himself “only on Wednesday” and could take his time in deciding on the matter which, as per rules, has to be sorted out within 14 days of the receipt of the notice.
Kumar, who is also chief whip of JD(U), asserted that he himself had submitted the notice for motion of no confidence to the assembly secretariat on January 28, and thus the 14-day period expires on February 11.
The budget session will commence on the next day, February 12, when the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government will also seek trust vote.
The Speaker is an MLA of the RJD, the party dumped by JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to join hands with the BJP last month.
Choudhary on Wednesday refused to step down till the trust vote and asserted that he must adhere to the stipulated timeline for making a decision on the no-confidence motion against himself.
“I am not going to resign. I will be in the assembly on February 12 and conduct proceedings of the House as per rules. Rules say that the Speaker should take a decision within 14 days of the receipt of the notice for a no-confidence motion. It was received by me only on Wednesday”, the Speaker told reporters on Wednesday.
Reacting to this, Shrawan Kumar told PTI that he submitted the notice pertaining to the no-confidence motion signed by nine MLAs of the NDA alliance partners at 6.30 pm on January 28.
“We hope that the Speaker will take an appropriate decision before February 11,” said Shrawan Kumar, who has been an MLA from Nalanda constituency since 1995.
The election of a new Speaker is scheduled on February 12. It is learnt that the BJP will keep that post. Names that are doing the rounds for the post of Speaker include senior BJP leaders former deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad and Nand Kishore Yadav.
In a similar instance, BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha had refused to resign in 2022, when Nitish Kumar had quit the NDA and formed a new government with the Mahagathbandhan.
Later, Sinha had announced his resignation on the floor of the House, avoiding the no-confidence vote. He is now the Deputy CM in the new NDA government.
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