The Grand Alliance (GA) led by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has presented Awadh Bihari Choudhary as a candidate against the ruling candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Vijay Kumar Sinha, for the position of Speaker in the Bihar assembly.
The Opposition measure would guarantee a race for the post of President and would also be the first test of strength for the NDA government led by Prime Minister Nitish Kumar, who has a slim majority in the House of 243 members.
The GA measure, breaking the tradition of electing the President unanimously, has also pointed out how the Opposition, with its 110 MLA, is not in the mood to give the NDA, with 126 MLA, much leeway within the assembly. . More so, because the NDA relies heavily on the support of smaller allies such as Vikasheel Inssan Party (VIP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) (S).
The leaders of the BJP and JD (U) came together shortly after the GA announced its candidate for the position of Spokesperson. Their MLA have privately admitted that the coalition has been affected by the Opposition movement.
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After presenting their nominations on Tuesday afternoon, both Choudhary, who has served six times on the RJD board of directors, and Sinha, a senior member of the BJP, expressed confidence in having the required number of board members. directive to win the elections. Both have served as ministers in previous governments.
“The RJD and GA allies, Congress and three left-wing parties, felt the need to run our own candidate, as Choudhary is a senior lawmaker with extensive experience and has the ability to lead the House in an impartial manner by achieving a balance between the opposition and the ruling parties. His election as president would help members raise people’s issues and get them addressed, ”said Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, leader of the GA and leader of the opposition in the assembly.
On whether the AIMIM led by Asaduddin Owaisi would support Choudhary, Yadav was evasive, saying: “We call on everyone to support our candidate, as he is an experienced legislator who has the ability to lead the House without problems.”
Regarding the GA’s decision to put forward its own candidate, Yadav said: “During the last elections for the vice president position in Rajya Sabha, the decision was made to put forward a candidate from the United Progressive Alliance and our deputy from Rajya Sabha, Manoj Jha, contested that. Have all the precedents been followed? There is a precedent that the vice president position goes to the Opposition in the state assembly, but the NDA government never did it despite repeated requests from us. ”
Meanwhile, the ruling NDA leaders said that the GA’s decision to present their candidate would not hamper their candidate’s prospects. “The NDA has made Sinha the candidate for the position of Spokesperson. We will win, ”said Sanjay Sarougi, leader of the BJP.
Experts and high-level representatives said that the election for the position of Spokesperson would first be made by voice vote. In the event that the Opposition expresses its dissatisfaction with the electoral results declared by provisional president Jitan Ram Manjhi, a vote would be taken by counting the members in favor and against the respective candidates.
Significantly, the NDA’s attempt to nominate Sinha as a candidate for the post of president has come as a surprise, as senior BJP MLA and former minister Nand Kishore Yadav were a favorite for the post, having not received a position. ministerial in the cabinet. He is also among the prominent faces of the state BJP who have so far failed to secure a position in the new NDA government, such as former Chief Deputy Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and former Minister Prem Kumar.
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