Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meets newly elected Speaker of Bihar assembly Prem Kumar (ANI photo)
PATNA: BJP’s Prem Kumar, who won the Gaya Town assembly seat for a record ninth time in the recent Bihar elections, was unanimously elected assembly speaker on Tuesday, succeeding his party colleague Nand Kishore Yadav.Kumar, 70, was the only one who had filed a nomination for the post. Slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Shri Ram” were raised in the House soon after he was declared “unanimously elected” by voice vote.Having bagged the speaker’s post just days after securing the key home portfolio, held by CM Nitish Kumar for nearly 20 years, BJP has further tightened its grip over the NDA govt in Bihar.The speaker’s role has become increasingly crucial in the state, which has witnessed repeated changes in govts over the past eight years owing to unpredictable shifts in political alliances.JDU minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, however, dismissed the suggestion that the party had been stripped of the speaker’s post. “When did we have the post that we lost it?” Choudhary, said to reporters. JDU held the post from Nov 2005 to Nov 2020, with Choudhary himself serving one term.
