Patna, Jul 29 (IANS): Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, on Wednesday demanded strong action against the officials responsible for the "brutal assault" on members of opposition parties inside the legislature on March 23.

Moreover, he said that if Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha finds any opposition MLA or MLC guilty, then he is himself is ready to face any action.

"In Bihar, bureaucrats are dominating the government and top officials were involved in assaulting the legislators on March 23. They are the actual culprits. Some ministers of the Bihar government also said that officialdom is the dominant force in Bihar. Hence, action should be taken against them," he said in the Assembly.

"... differences between ruling and opposition parties always occurred. But that doesn't mean ruling parties assault opposition leaders. In Bihar, the numbers of opposition MLAs are not small, it is also possible that we form the government in the state and direct security forces to shoot you. This is not the right way to run a democratic system in the country," Tejashwi Yadav said.

He alleged that "the brutal assault on opposition parties leaders had taken place on the direction of Chief Minister and not the Speaker".

"I firmly believe that our Speaker would not do such a thing. Hence, the state government should take action against officials responsible and punish them accordingly," he said.

Following his speech, Hindustani Awam Morcha President and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said that he has not seen any such incident similar to March 23 in his entire life.

"It was a brutal assault on legislators and persons responsible should be penalised for it," he said.

However, he questioned Tejashwi Yadav for his offer to the Speaker to take any action against him if any opposition leaders are involved in the assault. "This statement is also wrong. Why and under which guidelines is Tejashwi taking the blame of others. He is indirectly threatening the Speaker," he said.