LS Speaker from Bihar after 3 decades

PATNA: Dalit stalwart and former deputy PM Jagjivan Ram's daughter Meira Kumar, the UPA nominee for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker , would be the second Bihari to occupy the coveted constitutional post.

The 64-year-old Congress MP from Bihar's Sasaram (reserved) constituency had taken oath as the Union water resources development minister last week, only to resign from the Cabinet on Sunday night.

The first to become Speaker from Bihar was Baliram Bhagat who occupied the chair for a brief period of 14 months from January 1976 to March 1977.

Meira served as a minister in the previous UPA government. A 1973-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, she quit the job in 1985 to be elected MP from Bijnor. During her 12 years of foreign service, she served in Indian embassies in Madrid and London and also in the ministry of external affairs.
Source : Times of India

With her resignation, Bihar is left unrepresented in the Union council of ministers. The Congress has two MPs from the state. Party sources said bearded cleric Maulana Asrarul Haq, the party MP from Kishanganj, may get a ministerial berth in the next reshuffle. "The PM has no other alternative if he wants the representation of Bihar in the ministry," a Congress leader said, adding the party does not have a member from Bihar in the Upper House.

"Logically, a big state like Bihar cannot remain unrepresented and the only person eligible to fill the vacancy is Asrarul," said senior BPCC leader Khalid Rashid Saba.