Bihar legislative council rejects RJD’s request to appoint Rabri as opposition leader

Patna: Bihar legislative council has rejected the request of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to appoint Rabri Devi as the leader of opposition in the upper house, stating that the party did not have the required number of MLCs needed for the post.

“A strength of nine MLCs is required for the post of leader of opposition in the upper house but RJD at present has only seven MLCs. Hence, their application was not in conformity with the rules,” deputy chairman of Bihar state legislative council Harun Rashid told PTI on Friday.

“A letter citing existing rules has been sent to RJD Bihar president Ramchandra Purbe who had sent a request for appointing Rabri Devi as leader of opposition in the state’s upper house,” Rashid said.

Sushil Kumar Modi was the leader of opposition in the 75-member upper house during Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance government.

Rabri Devi was chosen as member of legislative council for the second time in 2012 and her tenure will end in 2018. Chief minister Nitish Kumar is also a member of the legislative council at present.

Purbe told PTI that the council authority could have used “discretionary” power to appoint Rabri Devi as opposition leader despite the party falling short of requisite numbers.

Criticising RJD, Janata Dal (United) spokesman and legislator Neeraj Kumar said, “For RJD, all the qualification for a constitutional post lies only to a member of Lalu Prasad family”.

The post of chairman of Bihar legislative council is also lying vacant after the end of the term of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Awdesh Narayan Singh recently.

Although Singh had been re-elected to the upper house again from Gaya Graduate constituency in the by-poll in June, nobody has been appointed as the chairman so far.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad had said after a meeting of RJD legislature party on 26 July that while Rabri Devi will lead them in the legislative council, his son Tejaswi Prasad Yadav will be the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.