Vijay Kumar Chaudhary

Vijay Kumar Choudhary (born 8 January 1957) is an Indian politician. He has been a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly since 1982, and in 2015 is the Speaker of Bihar Legislative Assembly. He previously served as Leader of Janata Dal (United) Legislature Party in Bihar Legislative Assembly^[2] and the Minister for Water Resources, Agriculture, Animal and Fish Resources and Information & Public Relations Departments in the Bihar cabinet under Nitish Kumar.^[3] He was considered to be the Number 2 minister in Bihar cabinet and is a member of Nitish Kumar's core committee which shapes policies of the Government and the party.^[4][5] He served as the Home Minister-in-charge and answered in Bihar Legislative Assembly on all matters related to home affairs.^[6][7] He has also held the position of Finance Minister-in-charge and presented Bihar's Annual Budget for the 2014-15 fiscal.^[8][9] Known for being a soft-spoken politician with a clean image, he is a confidante of Nitish Kumar and was speculated to succeed him as Chief Minister of Bihar following the latter's resignation after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.^[10][11][12]

Early life and career

Choudhary was born in Dalsinghsarai, Samastipur district of Bihar in a Bhumihar Brahmin Family. His father, the late Jagdish Prasad Choudhary, had been a freedom fighter, an Indian 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 the State Bank of India as a Probationary Officer in Trivandrum in the same year.

Political career

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 elected from Dalsinghsarai for two more terms in 1985 and 1990. During his stint as a legislator from 1982-1995, he served as the Deputy Chairman of Bihar State Industrial Development Corporation (BSIDC) and Deputy Chief Whip of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). He ran again from Dalsinghsarai in 1995 and 2000 but lost the elections.

Chaudhary served as General Secretary of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee from 2000-2005. He joined JD(U) in 2005 and unsuccessfully contested the October 2005 Bihar legislative assembly elections from Sarairanjan. He was appointed as the General Secretary and Chief Spokesperson of the party in 2008. He continued to serve as the General Secretary until February 2010, when he was nominated as the President of Bihar JD(U) and led the party during its victory in 2010 Bihar Assembly polls.^[14][15][16] He won the subsequent legislative assembly elections from Sarairanjan (Vidhan Sabha constituency) with a margin of 17557 votes and was rewarded with the Water Resources ministry in the newly formed cabinet,^[17] assuming charge on 26 November 2010.^[16]

Chaudhary and Nitish Kumar were responsible for the completion of Durgawati Reservoir in 2014, a massive irrigation project started in 1976 which was delayed for 38 years due to land acquisition and environemntal clearance related issues.^[18]

Chaudhary tendered his resignation from the Council of Ministers on 7 February 2015 to protest the continuance of Jitan Ram Manjhi as Chief Minister despite the election of Nitish Kumar as the Leader of JD(U) Legislature Party in Bihar Legislative Assembly and Council.^[19]

He was elected as the Leader of JD(U) Legislature Party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and staked claim to the opposition status for his party. He was subsequently recognized as the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on 19 February 2015 by then Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary.^[20] He took oath as the Cabinet Minister for Water Resources again on 22 February when Nitish Kumar assumed charge of the state for the fourth time. He was given the additional charge of Agriculture and Information & Public Relations Department on 24 February 2015 and later of Animal and Fish Resources in September 2015.^[21]

He retained his Sarairanjan (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 Opposition BJP.^[22] He also serves as the Chairman of Bihar Foundation, a platform to facilitate interaction between Government of Bihar and the Bihari diaspora.

Personal life

He is married to Ganga Choudhary. The couple has a son, Shubhaditya and a daughter, Ankita.

References

External links

• "Bihar cabinet minister". 
• "Bihar foundation team". 
• "my neta info". Retrieved 12 June 2014.