RSS-BJP veteran Nand Kishore Yadav to be new Speaker of Bihar Assembly
The Hindu
Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav is all set to become the new Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nand Kishore Yadav is all set to become the new Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
The post became vacant on Monday before the trust vote when Awadh Bihari Choudhary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was removed as Speaker. Presently Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari is conducting the proceedings of the House.
Mr. Yadav filed his nomination papers at the Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday in the presence of Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and two Deputy Chief Ministers of the BJP – Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. Senior leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were also present.
No other candidate filed nomination papers. The election of the new Speaker will take place on February 15.
A seven-term MLA from the Patna Sahib Assembly seat, Mr. Yadav is a seasoned politician, who has served as Cabinet Minister from 2005 holding different portfolios, including health and tourism. He isknown to be close to the Bihar Chief Minister.
He has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since 1969. The 70-year-old was once the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, apart from being State president of the BJP.
By choosing a Speaker from the Yadav community ahead of the Lok Sabha poll, the JD(U)-BJP ruling alliance wants to send a strong political message to the Opposition RJD, which is politically dependent on the community. As per the recently concluded caste-based survey, Yadavs outnumber other communities in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category with a 14.26% vote share.
The Election Commission of India will hold a press conference on June 3, a day before the counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha polls. Till the 2019 parliamentary polls, deputy election commissioners used to hold media briefings after each phase of polls, but the practice has been done away with.