Nitin Nabin’s resignation from Assembly held up as BJP brainstorms next Bihar CM
It was all set for BJP national president Nitin Nabin to resign from the Bihar Legislative Assembly on Sunday, but he shelved the plan and rushed to Delhi for an important meeting.
Bihar Legislative Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar, who was in New Delhi, rushed to Patna Saturday evening to do the necessary arrangement as soon as he got the news that Nabin would resign.
“I got the information from BJP state president Sanjay Saraogi that the national party president would resign and accordingly, I returned. Suddenly, it got delayed due to some important work. The rule mandates he can remain a member of only one House beyond 14 days, but let us see,” said Prem Kumar.
The Speaker said he would again go to Delhi for a function and return by evening. For Nabin, March 30 is the deadline by which he has to resign from one House, as after being elected to the Rajya Sabha he cannot remain a member of both Parliament and a state legislature.
The same applies to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has also been elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time. Both were elected to Rajya Sabha on March 16. Kumar is the member of the Bihar Legislative Council and he is likely to resign on March 30. “Both may resign on Monday, the last day, Nabin had some pressing engagement and it is no big deal” said a party leader.
According to the Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950 (under Articles 101/190 of the Constitution), a member elected to both Parliament and a State Legislature must resign from one within 14 days.
Sources in the BJP said that serious deliberations were on in both the BJP and the RSS for a replacement of Nitish Kumar, as Bihar has remained the only state in the Hindi heartland where it has struggled over the years. “There has to be deliberations also on the new cabinet. BJP may like to give a message from the word go that it wants to walk the talk,” they added.