Talking to newsmen he accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of ignoring protocol by allowing Janata Dal (United)’s “small-time” leaders to counter charges made by the Leader of the Opposition.

Siddiqui said the roles of treasury bench and the Opposition are well defined in a democratic set-up. The post of the Leader of the Opposition is a constitutional one, which has come into existence through the Legislative process. He is mandated to find out faults with the government and raise the issues concerning the people inside and outside the House.

“Whenever serious questions are being raised by me the JD(U) leaders would raise the issue of 15 years of rule (of Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi). All types of crimes have been taking place in the state yet nobody appears to be bothered about it,” he added.

Siddiqui said that these small-time ruling party leaders, who are hardly privy to official information have been employed to counter his charges. “I do a lot of research in framing my queries and allegations against the government which warrant reply either from the chief minister or his ministers instead of the party spokesperson usually bereft of facts,” he said.

According to convention or protocol, the question raised by the Leader of the Opposition should only be answered by either the chief minister or the parliamentary affairs minister, or someone from the chief minister’s secretariat. But that never happens in Nitish Kumar’s Bihar, he added.

Siddiqui said JD(U) spokespersons like Sanjay Singh, Neeraj Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan and Ata Karim, “are drunk with power and are trying to impart lessons in morality to counter the issues I am raising. Nitishji must respect the democratic structure and conventions and guide his party members to behave properly.”

He also criticised the way retired bureaucrats and police officials are being given post-retirement posting in Bihar.