Prem Kumar nominated as Bihar Assembly Speaker; Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav & new MLAs take oath in Bihar’s 18th Assembly session.

On the first day of the new Assembly , Prem Kumar, a nine-time Gaya Town MLA and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, submitted his nomination for Assembly Speaker.

Amid rumors that ally Janata Dal (United), with 85 seats, was also interested in the Speaker position, the BJP, the single largest party with 89 seats, kept it. In the previous Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav of the BJP served as Speaker.

New MLAs were sworn in on the first day of the 18th Bihar Assembly. The 243-member House will have more than 200 members from the ruling National Democratic Alliance for the first time in ten years.
Mahagathbandhan, the opposition party, has 35 MLAs.

Highlights of the oath-taking, which was presided over by protem Speaker Narendra Narayan Yadav, included Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary touching Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s feet and BJP Danapur MLA and minister Ram Kripal Yadav embracing Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD.

ALSO READ:  Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Makes Surprise Visit to Secretariat, Announces Major Payout for Jeevika Didis

Ram Kripal Yadav, Tejashwi’s father and the party founder Lalu Prasad Yadav’s right-hand man, had been with the RJD for more than thirty years prior to joining the BJP in March 2014.
Last year, Tejashwi’s sister Misa Bharti from Pataliputra defeated Ram Kripal Yadav, who had won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019.

Cabinet ministers took the oath of office first, followed by lawmakers in Hindi, English, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Maithili. After taking the oath in Hindi, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary shook hands with Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition. After taking the oath, Vijay Kumar Sinha, another Deputy CM, gave Tejashwi an embrace.

After taking the oath, Ram Kripal Yadav embraced Tejashwi, which attracted the most attention. After being sworn in, it is traditional to greet the CM and LoP.

Later, Ram Kripal Yadav told The Indian Express: “Tejashwi stood still when I approached him after taking the oath. I then gave him a hug. In a democracy, political unity is crucial. I have watched Tejashwi develop, and he is like my nephew. NDA heavyweights like AB Vajpayee and LK Advani praised me when I was an MP in the UPA for my speech on inflation.

Both Minister Anand Shankar Prasad and Maithili Thakur, a folk singer and Alinagar BJP MLA who wore the traditional Mithila hat paag to the House, took the oath in Maithili. While the majority of Bihar’s 11 Muslim MLAs swore their oaths in Urdu, Darauli MLA Vishnu Deo Paswan did it in English.

On Wednesday, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will speak to the five-day session.