Bihar floor test Live Updates: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to prove majority today

The newly formed cabinet in Bihar expanded last week when 31 ministers took oath, with the RJD getting a lion’s share, and care having been taken to represent all sections of the society, including the minorities.

On August 9, Nitish Kumar ended the coalition with the BJP in a surprise move. He returned to the Mahagathbandhan, which he had left in 2017, as differences with the BJP peaked. A day later, Kumar took oath for a record eighth time last week, as head of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance).

The party is yet to decide the same for the Assembly though names of Sinha and former Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad are doing the rounds.

The BJP, which stands stripped of power in the aftermath of the seismic political events in the state, is understood to have chosen former minister Samrat Chaudhary as the leader of the opposition in the Upper House.

The upcoming session is also likely to witness the replacement of Acting Chairman of the Legislative Council Awadhesh Narain Singh, who is also from the BJP, with JD(U)’s Devesh Chandra Thakur.

The Mahagathbandhan is understood to have agreed upon the name of veteran RJD leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary as the new Speaker.

“Bound by the Chair, I feel it is incumbent upon me to reject such a notice. Some baseless and personal allegations have been made in the notice against me. My style of functioning has been called undemocratic and dictatorial,” he said.

“I view the no-confidence motion as springing from a lack of trust, not in me, but the Chair itself. The notice of the motion received at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat has done away with rules, regulations and parliamentary niceties,” he read from a written statement before a posse of journalists.

The assembly is expected to witness a lot of drama as Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who is a BJP MLA, has declared that he will not step down in the wake of a no-confidence motion moved by MLAs of the ruling Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance).