Patna, July 21 (IANS) Sixty-seven opposition legislators were Wednesday suspended for unruly behaviour in the Bihar assembly while demanding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s resignation over financial irregularities, prompting one of the members to throw a footwear at the speaker.
Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary suspended the 67, mostly from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Left parties, a day after bedlam gripped the house.
The suspended legislators were forcibly removed by the marshals from the house.
The assembly opened at 11 a.m. after being adjourned Tuesday afternoon following clashes between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and opposition members.
The opposition members trooped towards the speaker, shouted slogans against their suspension and demanded the resignation of Nitish Kumar.
The suspension will remain effective during the ongoing monsoon session till July 24.
The ruling NDA alleged that an opposition member threw a sandal at the speaker to protest suspension of opposition members.
Protests continued outside the house also. A woman legislator created ruckus by breaking flower pots in the premises.
On Tuesday, 14 opposition members of the Bihar Legislative Council were suspended for their unruly behaviour in the house during protests against alleged financial irregularities.
RJD-LJP workers Wednesday morning burnt an effigy of Nitish Kumar in front of the main gate of the state assembly. Seventy-six legislators continued their overnight sit-in inside the assembly and another three protested outside the main gate.
RJD state president and legislator Abdul Bari Siddiqui told IANS over the phone that opposition members spent the night in the assembly to protest the attack on them by ruling party members.
LJP legislator Maheshwar Singh, who spent the night outside the assembly premises, said Nitish Kumar is behaving like a dictator by trying to suppress the voices of the opposition who raised the issue of his involvement in looting of crores of tax payers’ money.
Nitish Kumar is among the 47 people named in a complaint alleging irregularities of Rs.11,412 crore. Petitioner Arvind Kumar pointed to the irregularities in the use of development funds during 2002-2008 in Bihar.
The Patna High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter, a decision the state government has appealed against.
