Union minister Amit Shah will virtually address a workshop for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers in Bodh Gaya while ally Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) has asked its legislators to gather in Patna over the weekend ahead of the floor test the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government faces on Monday.

Bihar BJP president and deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary said the workshop was pre-scheduled and the legislators will return to Patna by Sunday evening for the assembly session starting Monday.

He rejected Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s insistence that the game was on even as the party lost power when chief minister Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA. Choudhary maintained the floor test would be smooth and that they had clear numbers.

JD(U) has asked its legislators to gather at minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary’s residence in Patna for a meeting followed by a feast at his Cabinet colleague Shravan Kumar’s home on Saturday.

The BJP and JD(U) have sought to keep their flock together ahead of the floor test as the RJD has been talking about some “game”. There have also been rumours about incommunicado JD(U) lawmakers.

JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar echoed Choudhary and said there was nothing to worry about. “The name of our party is United. If anyone has the support of any MLA [member of legislative assembly] from another party, they should come out and speak. RJD leadership is restless and we cannot help it.”

The NDA has 128 legislators in the 243-member assembly. The RJD, Congress, and Left parties have 114 lawmakers. The RJD is the single largest party in the House with 79 lawmakers.

Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary’s refusal to resign prompted the NDA to move a no-confidence notice against him. In 2022, Vijay Kumar Sinha refused to quit as the Speaker when Kumar switched sides to form the government with the RJD, Congress, and the Left parties. Sinha eventually resigned ahead of the trust vote.

Former AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies director DM Diwakar said the NDA has a majority but not a comfortable one. “In politics, nobody likes to take chances. Therefore, the NDA has kept Cabinet expansion on hold to avoid any dissension at this stage, and all hopefuls cannot be accommodated.”