BJP protests against Bihar speaker's decision

The BJP Thursday protested against Bihar Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary's decision to notify JD-U leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary as the leader of opposition in the state assembly, replacing the party's Nand Kishore Yadav.

"The BJP has not yet announced whether we have to support any party. How did the speaker take away the opposition party tag from the BJP?" asked senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain.

"We protest against this move as well as the way the Janata Dal-United is treating Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is a Mahadalit," he said at a press conference here.

Hussain also said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nothing to with the charges of horse-trading being made by former chief minister Nitish Kumar's camp.

"We want everything to be decided on the floor of the assembly," he said.

Though BJP MLAs in Bihar wanted to support Manjhi, a decision would be taken after a meeting of senior party functionaries later in the day, said Hussain.

Bihar's ruling JD-U expelled Manjhi Feb 9 from the party for allegedly "indulging in anti-party activities". But Manjhi has refused to resign.