Monsoon session of Bihar Legislature begins amid pandemonium

Patna, Jul 24 (UNI)The Monsoon session of the Bihar Legislature began here today amid pandemonium with members from the ruling and Opposition benches levelling charges and counter-charges on various issues.

Before Speaker Udai Narayan Choudhuri could make obituary references to ten prominent citizens who passed away during the intervening period,the House witnessed uproarious scenes with the Opposition demanding explanation from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar about the unprecedented waterlogging in the city.

Led by leader Rabri Devi of Rastriya Janata Dal(RJD), the entire Opposition stood up and started shouting anti-government slogans.

They also charged it with 'complete failure' in solving civic issues like the problem of unabated waterlogging and improvement of the capital's drainage system.

Urging the members to allow him to continue the day's proceedings, the Speaker said the people were observing their performances and behaviour inside the House and sought the MLAs' cooperation in running it smoothly.

Soon afterwards deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi placed before the House the first supplementary budget for 2008-09 and the bill related to the amendment of VAT. Discussions on both issues would be taken up on July 28.

Before adjourning the House for the day,the Speaker made obituary references to ten people, including two former ministers Gouri Shankar Pande(Bihar) and Ramesh Singh Munda (Jharkhand).

Similar obituary references were also made in the Bihar Legislative Council on the opening day of the Monsoon session where Council Chairman Professor Arun Kumar recalled the contributions of twelve prominent people who died during the intervening period.

Later he adjourned the House till tomorrow.

UNI ABA PL SS1452