RJD MLAs show lack of coordination in assembly

PATNA: The fragile sense of unity among the RJD lawmakers in the state assembly in the absence of the party’s overarching leader came to the fore on the floor of the House on Wednesday, as RJD’s senior member Lalit Kumar Yadav openly exhibited his reservation over the boycott of the government’s reply by water resources department minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh to the short notice question of senior member Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

Leader of opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has not been attending the House for the last three days, as he has fallen ill. In effect, there is no second RJD member to coordinate their responses on the floor of the House.

In the meantime, unconvinced by the reply given by Singh to the unavailability of canal water to irrigate fields covered by Rabi crops, as put by Siddiqui, the RJD members, including Lalit, Bhai Birendra and Vijay Prakash among others, entered the well of the House and started making noisy demands seeking Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary’s ruling for a probe into the minister’s claim that irrigation water was available.

The Speaker asked the RJD members to return to their seats for the restoration of order in the House. The RJD members, however, continued with their demand for an inquiry.

In the meantime, Siddiqui asked the RJD members to stage a walkout to register their protest against the minister for failing to give a convincing reply, as the Rabi crops had been adversely affected by the lack of canal water to irrigate land.

However, Lalit, along with some others, continued to stand in the well of the House. As a result of it, to avoid the oddity of the moment, Bhai Birendra and Vijay Prakash asked them to also walk out of the House, which resulted in a brief agitated exchange of words among them.

The ruling treasury benches ridiculed the RJD members for the embarrassing situation just as all of them left the House. The Speaker adjourned the House.