In the news for the unprecedented showdown with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the Bihar Assembly on Monday, Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha had been a surprise choice for the post.
The former labour resources minister and three-time Lakhisarai BJP MLA had come out of nowhere to be named the Speaker ahead of BJP veterans like Nand Kishore Yadav and Prem Kumar, whose names had been doing the rounds.
The BJP had managed to wrest the crucial post as the 2020 Assembly polls had left the JD(U) much weakened. In the 16-odd years since Nitish has been CM, the Speaker’s post was first held by Uday Narayan Choudhary and then another JD(U) leader, Vijay Kumar Choudhary.
Sinha, 54, fit the bill as the BJP wanted an upper caste candidate, to maintain social balancing in the government and Assembly. Sinha’s ABVP background, three back-to-back victories from the Lakhisarai seat, and administrative experience as a former minister helped.
Sinha, who was groomed by former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, took his time settling into the job of Speaker and had faced Opposition criticism earlier over for not “properly handling” the roughing up of an RJD and a Congress MLA on the Assembly premises during the last session.
A civil engineering diploma holder, Sinha’s family runs a business, and he is a first-generation politician. His 2020 Assembly election affidavit shows his moveable and immoveable assets at worth over Rs 8 crore. During his first election campaign in 2010, he had said he had enough money to sustain himself and that he had joined politics for social service and some recognition.