Rabri made leader of opposition in council

PATNA: RJD national vice-president and former chief minister Rabri Devi was granted the status of leader of opposition in the state legislative council on Saturday.
“Council’s acting chairman Haroon Rashid has pleased to grant the status of leader of opposition to Rabri Devi while accepting a request made by RJD’s state president and MLC Ram Chandra Purbey on the basis of RJD being the largest among the opposition parties in the upper house and fulfilling the necessary minimum number of members for getting the status of main opposition party,” a notification issued from the council secretariat said.

Purbey on Wednesday had submitted a petition in the office of the council’s acting chairman, demanding the leader of opposition status for Rabri as the RJD has now nine members in the 75-member Upper House.

With this notification, family members of RJD chief Lalu Prasad have become leader of opposition in both the houses of Bihar legislature. Lalu’s son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is the leader of opposition in the 243-member state assembly.

It is probably for the first time in parliamentary history of the country that a woman and her son both would be leaders of opposition in the state legislature.

Last year, Rashid had turned down a similar request from the RJD on the plea that the party did not have the required number of MLCs needed for the post. Then, the RJD had only seven members.