Opposition RJD legislators led by Rabri Devi Wednesday created ruckus in the Bihar Legislative Council over demand for immediate discussion on the "political misuse" of CBI, following which five of its MLCs were suspended for the remaining two days of the winter session.
Suspension of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members for "disrespecting the chair" further infuriated the party legislators, who later sat on a dharna inside the state's Upper House.
Congress, an ally of the RJD in the 'mahagathbandhan', joined them in the agitation inside the House and also lent support to their dharna.
The RJD has nine MLCs in the 75-member Bihar Legislative Council, while Congress has a strength of three.
The ruling JD(U) has 32 members, while its ally BJP has 22 MLCs.
The Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD had raised the issue of "political misuse" of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) vociferously in the Legislative Assembly too, resulting in the disruption of the House during the day.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav also joined the MLCs agitation.
The RJD has been alleging that the NDA government at the Centre was "misusing" CBI against opposition leaders, including Lalu Prasad, who is presently in a Ranchi jail following conviction in fodder scam cases.
Tejashwi told reporters that CBI was being misused with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi meeting the agency officials in Delhi regarding cases against opposition leaders.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Council Haroon Rashid gave an assurance to withdraw the suspension of the RJD members.
"In legislative business, such incidents sometimes do happen. The suspension will be withdrawn when the House reassembles on Thursday," he told PTI.
Asked whether the RJD MLCs had indulged in any kind of physical violence, Rashid said, "Nothing of the sort had happened. They had been demanding a debate on their adjournment motion without following the due process".
"Moreover, it is considered a disrespect to the Chair when the person heading the House rises and appeals to the members to take their seats, but the latter go on raising slogans. So they were held guilty of disrespect to Chair and thus suspended. But the issue has now been resolved," he said.
Following the assurance, the RJD decided to end the demonstration.
Tejashwi Yadav and his mother Rabri Devi told journalists it was a victory of the Opposition and the defeat of the government.
No government can function without the Opposition, they said..
As the Upper House commenced the days proceedings at noon, opposition members were adamant on a discussion on alleged political misuse of the CBI through an adjournment motion. Amid unruly scenes, the House was adjourned till
2 pm.
After the House reassembled, the Industrial Disputes (Bihar Amendment) Bill, 2018 was passed amid bedlam.
With no letup in the noisy protest by the RJD MLCs over their demand, the Chair ordered suspension of five members for the remaining two days of the current session.
The suspended MLCs are Radha Charan Seth, Subodh Kumar, Dilip Kumar Rai, Qamar-e-Alam and Syed Khurshid Ahmed.
"Bihar has been shamed by sharpest ever criticism by the Supreme Court in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal case. Despite all this, attempt is being made by the government to throttle our voice and implicate us in false cases. The protest will continue till justice is done," Tejashwi Yadav said.
Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra told reporters mikes of opposition members were switched off at times at the direction of Sushil Modi.
Meanwhile, miffed over the developments of the day, the deputy chief minister tweeted the RJD acquires political power by misleading the people and uses the same to amass benami property for one family.
"Its members did not allow issues concerning the public to be raised and the valuable time of the winter session was wasted in an attempt to save a convicted person. They do not want logical discussion but a democracy driven by their muscle power," Modi said.
JD(U) MLC and spokesman Neeraj Kumar tweeted, "The opposition's obstinacy is baffling. It has been adamant on violating the rules of proceedings and unmindful of the instructions of the Chair".
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