Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Tariq Anwar today flayed Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary for recognising 13 rebel RJD MLAs as a separate group and said the latter should have consulted constitutional experts and taken views of the individual MLAs before arriving at a decision.
"I think the Speaker acted in haste in recognising the 13 rebel RJD MLAs as a separate group in the Assembly and did so without following due process as per the Constitution," Anwar old reporters here.
Chaudhary should have consulted constitutional experts and taken views of the MLAs concerned one by one before taking a final decision in the matter, he said.
The Union Minister, who is also the NCP national general secretary, took a dig at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his call for a 'Bihar bandh' and beating utensils to protest the Centre's decision not to accord special status to Bihar.
"It's nothing but an election stunt on the part of the JD(U) and the Chief Minister," he said, referring to the agitation.
"If Nitish is so serious about special status to Bihar, then why did he not raise the issue when he was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government?" Anwar said.
