Wednesday, November 23 2005 13:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bihar cast its shadow over both Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the winter session today (Nov 23, 2005).

A day after the rout of the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Assembly polls, neither the Railway Minister nor any of his party colleague in the Government was present in either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

Barring Devendra Prasad Yadav in the lower house, no RJD member was seen in Parliament during the brief proceedings.

The Lok Sabha saw National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Chief Ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar in his usual seat on the second row behind Janata Dal-United (JD-U) President George Fernandes. Some members congratulated Kumar for the resounding victory of NDA.

As the lower House assembled for the session, some opposition members were heard shouting 'Jai Bihar.'