In Bihar, the new Janata Dal United, JD(U) government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi will seek the trust vote today. Meanwhile in a major development yesterday, one of the opposition parties, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, RJD has announced unconditional support to the new Bihar government. The RJD legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui said that, the party has decided to support the government as a Mahadalit became the Chief Minister of Bihar. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has said that his party's support to the JD(U) government is aimed at foiling BJP's design to capture power in the state. Talking to reporters in New Delhi yesterday, he said that his party will keep monitoring the working of the Jitan Ram Manhji government. Lalu also met Sonia Gandhi last evening and briefed her about the polls in Bihar. On the other hand BJP leader Giriraj Singh said that, the alliance between the RJD and the JD(U) smacks of frustration and opportunistic politics.
Meanwhile, JD(U) spokesman K C Tyagi has welcomed the announcement of support by RJD. The JD(U) government has an absolute majority in the state. It has 117 legislators and also enjoys the support of one CPI member and two independent legislators. Two days ago the Congress had already announced their support to the JD(U) government. The Congress has four legislators. In the 243 member Bihar Assembly, BJP has 88 MLAs and RJD has 21 MLAs. The effective strength of the Assembly is 237 after the resignation of two BJP MLAs and three JD(U) MLAs, and one vacancy. The government will require 119 MLAs to prove majority in the floor test. Nitish Kumar had stepped down from the top post on Saturday after taking moral responsibility for the ruling party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.