JD(U) MLA Leshi Singh confirms cabinet berth, ahead of Bihar cabinet expansion

"I thank the Chief Minister for giving me a berth in his cabinet and making a worker like me, a minister. I also thank the people who have brought me here. Mahagathbandhan Government will work well, the pace of development will increase and work will be firmly done," Leshi Singh said to ANI.

"There will be no difference (between party's alliance with RJD and that with BJP) as the leader (Kumar) is the same. Work will be done well. Nitish Kumar will take Bihar to new heights," she said.

Just hours before the Bihar Cabinet expansion, sources have learned that a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s core group chaired by national president Jagat Prakash Nadda is likely to take place at the party headquarters on Tuesday evening.

This meeting is likely to be held in the presence of BJP co-incharge for Bihar, Harish Dwivedi, Union Minister Giriraj Singh, and BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal among the others.

This meeting chaired by Nadda will be looking into the Bihar political crisis and how the BJP can motivate its cadre further as well as look at the immediate floor test which Nitish Kumar will undertake on August 24, 2022.

In the meeting, there will be a discussion on the new organizational form of Bihar, in which the selection of the new president of BJP Bihar and the leader of the opposition party in the assembly, the leader of the opposition party in the Legislative Council, and the leader of the legislature party will be discussed. A decision on all these subjects will be taken before the upcoming Bihar assembly session starting on August 24.

Nearly 30 MLAs in Bihar are likely to take oath as ministers as part of the cabinet expansion around 11.30 am on Tuesday. The swearing-in ceremony will be held in Rajendra Mandapam hall of Raj Bhavan.

Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy--RJD's Tejashwi Yadav - took oath on August 10.

Janata Dal (United) on August 9 unanimously decided to snap ties with the BJP and Nitish Kumar's party joined hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in a stunning switch of power.

It was in 2020 when the BJP- JD(U) combined won the Assembly election for Bihar and Nitish Kumar was made the chief minister, despite BJP being the single largest party.

CM Nitish Kumar had deserted the NDA for the first time in 2013 after Narendra Modi became the coalition's Prime Ministerial candidate and then again ditched his coalition with the RJD-Congress combine in 2017 to walk back into the NDA camp.

What began as a tiff between the two partners ended up in a full-blown split after Nitish Kumar accused the BJP of trying to split his party and suspected former union minister and JD(U) leader RCP Singh to be in cahoots with the saffron camp. Singh, once a close aide of Nitish Kumar, soon resigned over charges of corruption and admitted that joining the BJP was an option. (ANI)