Patna: Former Chief Minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday skips the inaugural sitting of the joint session of Bihar Legislature after which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will take the trust vote.
Ex-CM Manjhi over his action said that he was waiting for a reply from the Assembly secretariat as to how a whip was mandatory on an unattached member.
Manjhi said, “I took advise from constitutional expert Subhas Kashyap, who told me that whip is not applicable on an unattached member.”
He said, “Accordingly, I have written to Secretary of the Legislative Assembly to explain how whip is mandatory on an unattached member.”
Parliamentary Affair Minister Shrawan Kumar, who is also Chief Whip of JD-U said that a whip has been issued to all 110 JD-U MLAs, including Manjhi, which mandates that they vote in favor of the Nitish Kumar Government, failing which they could be disqualified.
Meanwhile Manjhi stays away from House proceeding, the legislators siding with him are attending the sitting. Former Bihar ministers Narendra Singh, Brishen Patel, Nitish Mishra, Samrat Chaudhary and rebel MLA Rajib Ranjan were seen sitting in the treasury benches.
As per the seating arrangements in the Assembly, while Nitish Kumar has been allotted seat number 1, marked for the chief minister, former CM Manjhi has been allotted seat number 116 in the treasury
benches.
Notable Manjhi had revolted against Kumar, who had stepped down as chief minister and placed the Mahadalit leader in his stead, after JD-U’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
Bureau Report
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