Vijay Kumar Choudhary | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cabinet Minister,Government of Bihar | |
| Assumed office 16 Mar 2024 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| In office 03 Feb 2024 – 15 Mar 2024 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| In office 22 Aug 2022 – 28 Jan 2024 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| In office 09 Feb 2021 – 10 Aug 2022 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| In office 16 Nov 2020 – 08 Feb 2021 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| In office 22 Feb 2015 – 16 Nov 2015 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| In office 26 Nov 2010 – 07 Feb 2015 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| 15thSpeaker of theBihar Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 2 December 2015 – 15 November 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Uday Narayan Choudhary |
| Succeeded by | Vijay Kumar Sinha |
| Leader of Opposition,Bihar Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 19 February 2015 – 20 February 2015 | |
| President,BiharJD(U) | |
| In office 14 February 2010 – 26 November 2010 | |
| MLA | |
| Assumed office 24 Nov 2010 | |
| Constituency | Sarairanjan (Vidhan Sabha constituency) |
| Preceded by | Ramchandra Singh Nishad |
| In office 1981–1995 | |
| Constituency | Dalsinghsarai (Vidhan Sabha constituency) |
| Preceded by | Jagdish Prasad Chaudhary |
| Succeeded by | Ram Lakhan Mahato |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1957-01-08)8 January 1957 (age 69)[1] |
| Party | Janata Dal (United) |
| Spouse | Ganga Choudhary |
| Children | 1 daughter, 1 son |
| Residence(s) | 2 Deshratna Marg,Patna,Bihar |
| Alma mater | Patna University |
| Profession | Politician Probationary Officer |
| Website | http://www.vidhansabha.bih.nic. |
Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (born 8 January 1957) is an Indian politician. He has been a member ofBihar Legislative Assembly since 1982, and is currently serving as the Cabinet Minister for Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs ministries in theGovernment of Bihar.
He has previously held the posts of Speaker of Bihar Vidhan Sabha, Leader ofJanata Dal (United) Legislature Party in Bihar Legislative Assembly[2] and the Minister for Finance, Commercial Taxes, Education, Building Construction, Transport, Rural Development, Rural Works Engineering, Information & Public Relations, Agriculture, Animal and Fish Resources ministries in theGovernment of Bihar.[3] He is considered to be the Number 2 in JDU's pecking order of the Bihar cabinet and is a member ofNitish Kumar's core committee which shapes policies of the Government and the party.[4][5]
Chaudhary served as the Home Minister-in-charge, putting forth the Government's stand on home affairs in Bihar Legislative Assembly.[6][7] Known for being an efficient administrator and a soft-spoken person with a clean image, he is a close confidante ofNitish Kumar and was speculated to succeed him as Chief Minister of Bihar following the latter's resignation after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.[8][9][10][11][12]
Choudhary was born inDalsinghsarai,Samastipur district of Bihar in aBhumihar Brahmin family. His father, Jagdish Prasad Chaudhary, had been a freedom fighter, anIndian National Congress politician and a three term member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from the Dalsinghsarai constituency.[13] He completed his Master of Arts in history from Patna University in 1979 and joined theState Bank of India as a Probationary Officer inTrivandrum in the same year.
After the demise of his legislator father in 1982, Chaudhary resigned from his job and won the subsequent by-election from Dalsinghsarai on a Congress ticket. He was re-elected from Dalsinghsarai for two more terms in 1985 and 1990. During this stint as a legislator from 1982 to 1995, he served as the Deputy Chairman of Bihar State Industrial Development Corporation (BSIDC) and Deputy Chief Whip of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). He sought re-election again from Dalsinghsarai in 1995 and 2000 but lost the polls.Chaudhary served as General Secretary of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee from 2000 to 2005. He joinedJD(U) in 2005 and unsuccessfully contested theOctober 2005 Bihar Legislative Assembly election from Sarairanjan. He was appointed as the General Secretary and Chief Spokesperson of the party in 2008. He continued to serve in this capacity until February 2010, when he was nominated as the President of Bihar JD(U) and led the party during its victory in2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.[14][15][16] He himself won the election fromSarairanjan (Vidhan Sabha constituency) with a margin of 17557 votes and was inducted as the Water Resources Minister in the newly formed cabinet,[17] assuming charge on 26 November 2010.[16]
He tendered his resignation from the Council of Ministers on 7 February 2015 to protest the continuance ofJitan Ram Manjhi asChief Minister despite the election ofNitish Kumar as the Leader ofJD(U) Legislature Party.[18]
He was elected as the Leader ofJD(U) Legislature Party in theBihar Legislative Assembly and staked claim to the opposition status. He was subsequently recognized as theLeader of Opposition on 19 February 2015 by then SpeakerUday Narayan Chaudhary.[19] Post victory in the trust vote andNitish Kumar assuming charge asChief Minister for the fourth time, he was inducted as the Cabinet Minister for Water Resources with the additional charge of Agriculture, Information & Public Relations and Animal and Fish Resources Departments.[20]
He retained hisSarairanjan (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in 2015 elections with a margin of 34044 votes. He was elected unopposed to the post of Speaker of Bihar Legislative Assembly on 2 December 2015 after consensus was generated on his name among all political parties of the state, including the OppositionBJP.[21] He was re-elected fromSarairanjan (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the 2020 elections. He was inducted in the Cabinet ofNitish Kumar on 16 November 2020 and allotted the portfolios of Water Resources, Rural Works, Rural Development, Information & Public Relations and Parliamentary Affairs Departments.
As Water Resources Minister, Chaudhary is credited with the completion of Durgawati Reservoir in 2014, a massive irrigation project started in 1976 which got delayed by 38 years due to land acquisition and environmental clearance related issues.[22] His tenure (2010–2015) saw no major floods after the2008 Bihar flood. Under his leadership, the Water Resources Ministry launched eight river-linking projects at a cost of Rs 4442 crores.[23]
AsSpeaker of the Legislative Assembly, Chaudhary brought 44 amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, the most significant of them being the introduction of the concept of 'Confidence Motion' under Rule 109(A), wherein the Government of the day can move a motion to seek confidence from the House. Bihar is the only state in the country with a rule to deal with confidence motion moved by Government of the day. TheNitish Kumar government, with BJP and other NDA constituents as allies, was the first to move a confidence motion in the Assembly, on 28 July 2017, to prove its majority in the lower House. He also amended rules to allow inclusion ofMLCs in House Committees dealing with financial matters.[24][25]
He introduced a Question Reply Management System (QRMS) for online receipt of questions fromMLAs and provision of answers by concerned Government departments through the same channel. To bring transparency in the recruitment policy of the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, he divested the Office of Speaker of powers of recruitment and awarded the job to a Central agency, also responsible for recruitment inParliament of India through a competitive and fair process.[26] He has also initiated the implementation of the National e-Vidhan Application Project to makeBihar Legislative Assembly paperless.[27]
He organized workshops to facilitate dialogue between the civil society and legislators for more informed lawmaking. He has also been organizing blood donation camps on the Assembly's foundation day wherein legislators donate blood for use by needy patients.[28]
Under his leadership as the Chairman of theCommonwealth Parliamentary Association Bihar Chapter, theBihar Legislative Assembly successfully organised the annual conference ofCommonwealth Parliamentary Association India Region, attended by both national and international dignitaries, including Chairperson of theCommonwealth Parliamentary AssociationEmilia Monjowa Lifaka.[29]
He is married to Ganga Choudhary. The couple has a son and a daughter.