— PHOTO: RANJEET KUMAR

ON THE WARPATH: Leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly Rabri Devi with party MLAs boycotting the proceedings of the House in Patna on Tuesday .

PATNA: The entire Opposition in the Bihar Assembly boycotted the proceedings on Tuesday in protest against the censure motion adopted against them a day earlier.

The boycott decision was taken at a meeting of leaders of all Opposition parties, chaired by Leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi ahead of the sitting of the House. The morning session was adjourned well ahead of the lunch recess.

The Opposition leaders described as unprecedented the Government action of declaring the entire Opposition "condemned." They said it was against parliamentary norms and dignity. It also amounted to murdering democracy and insulting the people who had voted them as legislators.

The Left party leaders pointed out that some Opposition members entered the well of the House on Monday only when they were disappointed by the "insensitive" response of the Government to taking action against those named in the FIR for blasting the house of RJD member Kunti Devi in Gaya district two months ago.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sought to clarify that only the behaviour of the members was censured and not the members. He stressed that it would not be possible to arrest the six persons named in the FIR till a probe about their involvement was not conducted. The accused had pleaded innocence in a petition to the police, saying they were at a party during the blast. Speaker Udai Narain Chaudhary's efforts to break the ice failed to yield results. He held meetings with the Opposition leaders but ruled out any move to withdraw the motion till the Opposition members apologised for their conduct.

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