Bihar Congress asks three truant MLAs to explain their absence during the RS polling

The Bihar Congress disciplinary committee has sought an explanation within two days from three Congress MLAs — Manohar Prasad Singh (Manihari), Surendra Prasad (Valmikinagar), and Manoj Bishwas (Forbesganj) — for their absence from the Assembly during the Rajya Sabha election, terming it a serious matter.

Their failure to vote during the polling for the Upper House on March 16 led to the defeat of the Opposition alliance candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh, said committee chair Kapildev Prasad Yadav.

He added that, during the voting, continuous attempts were made to establish contact with the truant MLAs via their mobile phones. However, the calls went unanswered, and subsequently, their phones were found to be switched off.

Blaming party’s State chief

The demand for explanation comes a day after the three MLAs alleged that State Congress chief Rajesh Ram had directed them to skip the voting as he was unhappy with not being involved in the selection of the joint mahagathbandhan candidate.

Mr. Ram, however, termed the allegation “baseless”, claiming that he was awaiting instructions from the central leadership to take disciplinary action against the MLAs.

The Congress MLAs from Manihari and Valimikinagar had also claimed they were not happy with the joint candidate, so they chose to abstain from the voting.

Faisal Rahman, a Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA from the Dhaka Assembly constituency, had also skipped the voting, citing his mother’s illness as the reason for his absence.

Costly absence

Of the five NDA candidates who secured victory, two were from the Bharatiya Janata Party – party national president Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar. Two more were from the Janata Dal (United) – Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Ramnath Thakur. Rashtriya Lok Morcha president and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is part of the ruling alliance, also won a seat.

There was a contest for the fifth seat between the BJP’s Mr. Shivesh Kumar and Mr. Singh of the RJD. While the NDA candidate secured 38 votes, Mr. Singh got only 37 votes, hamstrung by the absent MLAs.

Rajesh Rathore, chairman of the Congress media department, said that the disciplinary committee has directed the three MLAs to submit their explanation regarding this matter within two days.