RJD will face opposition in the monsoon session

PATNA: With eight of its members including four ministers getting elected to Lok Sabha and another four including three ministers losing their seats for having unsuccessfully contested LS polls on the tickets of other political parties, ruling RJD will face opposition in state assembly with a depleted strength during monsoon session of state legislature beginning on June 4.
The strength RJD has come down to 106 from 118 in a 243 member Lower House while that of its ally and a partner in RJD led coalition has also come down to nine from 11 following election of medical education minister Shakeel Ahmad to Lok Sabha and resignation of Abdul Jalil Mastan, who represented Amour constituency, from assembly for having unsuccessfully contested LS polls from Kishanganj on Samajwadi Party ticket.
With its strength coming down to 106, RJD will have to manage eight additional votes to get its third candidate elected to Rajya Sabha(RS). The party would need 114 votes - 38 votes for each candidate - to see all its three candidates through in RS polls due in June for five seats of Bihar.
It would also have to manage at least six additional votes to get its fourth candidate elected in biennial election to seven seats of State Legislative Council to be held in June. Obviously, RJD would seek these additional votes from Congress.
With LJP leader and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan maintaining that his party had entered into a poll pact with RJD only for LS polls, performance of six MLAs of his party would also be watched with keen interest by people and political observers during monsoon session of state legislature. RJD had promised an RS seat to LJP before LS polls and state LJP president Narendra Singh is said to be a strong contender for it. It has to be seen whether would RJD still offer a RS seat to LJP in view of recent stand off between RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and Paswan over allocation of railway portfolio.
Eight RJD members elected to Lok Sabha are: Sitaram Singh, Mohammad Taslimuddin, Sitaram Yadav, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, all ministers, Jai Prakash Narain Yadav, R K Rana, Giridhari Yadav and Aniruddha Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav.
Another four RJD members including three ministers; Purnmasi Ram, Chedi Paswan, Monazir Hasan, all ministers and Dasai Chaudhary had to resign their assembly seats for having unsuccessfully contested LS polls on the ticket of other political parties. While Hasan, Chedi Paswan and Dasai Chaudhary and had contested LS polls on JD(U) ticket, Purnmasi Ram had contested on BSP ticket.
With senior BJP leader and former leader of opposition in state assembly Sushil Kumar Modi and Independent MLA Surajbhan also getting elected to Lok Sabha, altogether 16 assembly seats have fallen vacant in Lower House and its strength has come down to 227 from 243.
With so many old faces missing, question hour and debate on budgetary demands of different departments may lack sting. The opposition has lost its most powerful speaker Sushil Kumar Modi, who never lost an opportunity to launch a blistering attack on Rabri Devi government, following former''s election to Lok Sabha. Modi had held the post of leader of opposition in assembly for almost eight years.
Now BJP would have to elect a new leader of BJP legislature party in place of Modi on or before June 4. The Monsoon session would also put to test skills of JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha, who replaced Modi as leader of opposition just before the LS polls.