Manjhi's partisan allegation baseless: Bihar speaker

Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary Saturday refuted the allegation on his "partisan" role made by outgoing chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

On Feb 19, Manjhi alleged that the speaker acted in a "partisan" manner in the favour of Janata Dal (United) after Choudhary notified JD-U leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary as leader of opposition in the assembly, replacing BJP's Nand Kishore Yadav.

The speaker accepted JD-U leader Nitish Kumar's demand that his party be given the status of the main opposition party. Nitish Kumar will take oath as the new chief minister of Bihar Feb 22 after Manjhi resigned Friday, less than an hour before a confidence vote in the assembly.

"The allegation against me was baseless and far from the truth," Choudhary told reporters Saturday.

Manjhi's decision to quit without taking the trust vote came as a surprise after exchanges of barbs and jibes in the past few days.

Manjhi was picked by Nitish Kumar as his replacement when he quit last year after JD-U's rout in the Lok Sabha polls.

Choudhary said the attempt was made to defame and target him, adding it was unfortunate and painful to hear such things.

He said that some leaders have accused him and targeted the glory of the legislature. But decisions of the Bihar Legislative Assembly was legal according to the constitution, said the speaker.

"I thanks Manjhi as he claimed Friday that he has resigned due to me. Now, people will not hear that he will cut hands of doctors," the speaker said.

On Feb 9, Manjhi was expelled from the JD-U for allegedly "indulging in anti-party activities". He was declared as an unattached member in the assembly.