Nitish dares Manjhi to arrest Speaker

Former chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday dared the Jitan Ram Manjhi government to arrest Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary.

“Do they have any idea what will happen if the police try to even touch Choudhary ji? If they have the guts, they should try to arrest him. Only then they will come to know the consequences of their action,” Nitish said.

The Manjhi camp, for the last three days, had been urging the chief minister to arrest the Speaker saying the latter is an accused in the former LJP MP Rajesh Kumar murder case.

Manjhi supporters are miffed with the Speaker for “showing undue haste” in recognising Nitish Kumar as the JDULP leader replacing Manjhi. The high court, too, had stayed the Speaker’s order on Wednesday, saying the matter would be heard afresh on February 18.

Since Thursday morning, a section of media had been agog with the report that the Speaker’s arrest in the 10-year-old case was imminent. Nitish, therefore, held a press conference where he not only dared Manjhi government to arrest the Speaker, but also questioned the Governor’s decision to give his successor ample time to prove his majority.

“When we met the governor on February 9, he appeared to be satisfied with our logic of early decision on who commands majority in the Assembly. But now that he has given time for floor test on February 20, I feel it is highly improper as such delay would lead to horse-trading,” said Nitish.