BJP gets Speaker’s post; JD(U) says it lost nothing

Patna: Days after the BJP secured the key home portfolio, held by CM Nitish Kumar for nearly 20 years, the party on Tuesday also secured the post of Bihar assembly Speaker, further tightening its grip over the NDA govt in the state. The Speaker’s role has become increasingly crucial in Bihar, which has witnessed repeated changes in govts over the past eight years owing to unpredictable shifts in political alliances.

Political observers had expected the post of Speaker to go to the JD(U), particularly after it conceded the home department to the BJP. However, it was the BJP’s Prem Kumar who was elected Speaker, succeeding his party colleague Nand Kishore Yadav. Analysts pointed out that number-wise the JD(U) was not much behind its ally in the assembly, with 85 members, only four fewer than the BJP.


Reacting to the development, JD(U) minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary dismissed the suggestion that his party had been stripped of the Speaker’s post. “Speaker pad kab tha hamara tha jo le liya gaya (When did we have the post of Speaker that it was lost)?” he asked while talking to the reporters on Tuesday. Choudhary, considered close to the CM, currently oversees water resources, parliamentary affairs, information and public relations department and building construction.

The JD(U) last held the Speaker’s chair in 2015, when Choudhary himself occupied the post during the short-lived Grand Alliance govt, continuing in the role even after the alliance fractured. He served from Dec 2, 2015 to Nov 15, 2020. Before him, JD(U) leader Uday Narayan Choudhary served as Speaker from Nov 2005 to Nov 2015.

According to analysts, Bihar’s politics has undergone several upheavals in the past eight years — although the CM remained unchanged — which, in turn, elevated the significance of the Speaker’s office. The first major shift came in July 2017, when Nitish quit the Grand Alliance that had won the Nov 2015 elections and formed a new govt with BJP support. Another turning point occurred in Aug 2022, when he exited the NDA, under which he had contested the 2020 assembly elections, and formed a govt with the Grand Alliance. After 17 months, Nitish again switched sides and returned to the NDA, making the Speaker’s decisions central during each transition.

The BJP’s position strengthened earlier when it secured the Home portfolio, which had remained with the chief minister since Nov 2005 when the NDA first came to power. On this, JD(U)’s Choudhary offered a different perspective. “Well, the Home department has gone from our share, but comparatively more significant departments of finance and commerce have reached us. Why don’t you write about it?” he said, adding, “Finance dept is more important than home.”

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