Bihar’s political bigwigs seek council route to enter House
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, former chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rabri Devi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi have one thing in common — they prefer the indirect route to win a berth in the state assembly.
Nine seats of Bihar legislative council will fall vacant on April 11. While members on 9 seats would be completing their terms, two became vacant after Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Narendra Singh’s membership was terminated and BJP member Satyendra Kushwaha passed away.
Bihar is one of the seven states in India that has a bicameral legislature, which divides the legislature into two separate assemblies. While the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative assembly) is called the lower house, the Vidhan Parishad (legislative council) is the upper house. Bihar’s legislative assembly has a total strength of 243 members whereas the council has a strength of 75 members. The council members are elected for a period of six years.
Since 2006, both Kumar and Modi have been members of the council, while Rabri and present health minister Mangal Pandey of the BJP have been in the council since 2012.
Political analyst and professor at AN Sinha Institute for Social Studies, DM Diwakar said, it is morally incorrect. “It is not good for democracy. Being risk averse is not the way for survival in politics. If you have done good work, people will repose their faith. Getting elected to the upper house is, often, more than certain,” he argued, stressing, the trend is common across states and at the Centre where senior leaders prefer securing berths in the assembly and the parliament without facing public scrutiny.
Rajya Sabha MP Shivanand Tiwary agreed with Diwakar and said getting elected to upper house is pure arithmetic.
JD (U) spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar, who is also an MLC, defended the practice. “They are tall leaders who burden several responsibilities. They have to oversee the party, run the organization and more importantly to ensure candidate get proper backing. So there is nothing wrong if they take the council route,” he said.
PATNA: BJP: 23 JD (U): 34 LJP: 2 RLSP: 1
RJD: 8 Cong: 2 CPI: 2 Ind: 1 Vacant: 2