11 LJP legislators resign from Bihar assembly

PATNA: Eleven Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) legislators Thursday resigned from the assembly to protest the "partisan" role of the speaker and intensify their movement against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is allegedly involved in a financial scam.

A day after the state Congress urged all opposition legislators to resign en-masse to press for early dissolution of the assembly, the 11 members, who were among the 67 suspended Wednesday, submitted their resignation to LJP state president Pasupati Kumar Paras.

He would hand over the resignations to Speaker Uday Narain Choudhury after LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan's clearance.

Paswan will arrive here from New Delhi Thursday to finalise the party's strategy with alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), whose chief Lalu Prasad is also expected to reach here.

Paras said LJP's legislators have submitted their resignation from the state assembly to protest the partisan role of the speaker.

"It was shocking for us that the speaker suspended only opposition legislators and spared the ruling parties legislators. The speaker singled out the opposition legislators for unruly behaviour in the house," he said.

Paras hinted that the resignation was a part of a strategy to continue their protest against Nitish Kumar for his alleged involvement in a Rs.11,412 crore scam in the state.

The assembly witnessed violent clashes between ruling National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) and opposition members in the last two days.

Unruly scenes were witnessed in the assembly Wednesday as a slipper was flung at the speaker in the house and flower pots were broken in the premises by opposition legislators.

Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi are among the 47 people named in the complaint alleging irregularities of Rs.11,412 crore during 2002-08 in Bihar.

Petitioner Arvind Kumar pointed at financial irregularities in the use of development funds.