We will boycott assembly session if it is truncated: Tejashwi Yadav

The opposition Grand Alliance inBihar on Sunday declared it would boycott the upcoming budgetsession of state assembly and lay siege to residences of theChief Minister and his deputies if proceedings of the Housewere curtailed in the name of facilitating COVID-19vaccination.

The announcement was made by RJD de facto leader TejashwiYadav after a meeting with delegates of Congress, CPI(ML), CPIand CPI(M) which together constitute the opposition coalitionhelmed by his party.

''We met the Speaker yesterday. He had suggested that thebudget session, normally held in March, be advanced and theproceedings which often last for a month or so, be wrapped upin a few days.

''The reason stated by him was possible vaccination drivefor COVID-19 in March'', Yadav told reporters.

The former Deputy CM alleged that proposed shortening ofthe session was ''a ploy by the Nitish Kumar government toavoid facing elected representatives and getting cornered overthe issue of high-handedness of the bureaucracy''.

He pointed out that assembly elections in the state wereheld last year while the pandemic was at its peak but largepublic gatherings in the form of rallies were allowed.

''Now they are trying to tell us that just 243 members ofthe House cannot assemble because of the pandemic. They aretalking about vaccination. Can they give a tentative date ofits commencement? ''Do they have even a faint idea as to how many vials ofthe shot will be made available to Bihar?'', Yadav askedmockingly.

Underscoring that legislative business had suffered inthe state over the past one year because of the pandemic,Yadav said if the upcoming session was shortened ''we willboycott it and gherao the residences of the Chief Minister andthe deputy CMs''.

The RJD leader also took potshots at Nitish Kumar overhis failure to come out ''with even a small statement or atweet'' condoling the death of dozens of protesting farmers inthe national capital.

''We have always supported the cause espoused by theprotestors and in yet another expression of solidarity, theopposition will be holding a state-wide human chain on January30'', Yadav declared.

The younger son of jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, whowas stripped of the Deputy CMs post more than three years agofollowing Nitish Kumars abrupt return to the NDA, scoffed atcomplaints of the JD(U) about having been ''cheated'' in theassembly elections an allusion to the LJPs sudden rebellionand the BJPs failure to rein in a renegade Chirag Paswan.

''Kumar is reaping what he has sown. What did he do toGeorge Fernandes and Digivijay Singh?'', asked Yadav, referringto the former Union ministers who were close associates ofKumar early on, but bitterly parted ways towards the end oftheir lives.