PATNA, Nov. 24 -- The first meting of the new Bihar cabinet on Tuesday will fix the date for the inaugural session of the 18th Vidhan Sabha, which is likely to held from December 1. It would see the oaths of newly-elected legislators and election of the new speaker of the House, said a senior Vidhan Sabha official. Some leaders confirmed that the inaugural session would be for 4-5 days. "Usually, the first thing that happens after the CM taking oath with his ministers is to hold a cabinet meeting, mostly the same day, and fix the date for convening the inaugural session, but this time it has got a bit delayed," said a senior JD(U) leader. The Pro-tem Speaker, usually the longest-serving legislator, administers the oath to all the 243 legislators. The 18th Vidhan Sabha has just 104 legislators from the 17th, as many of them lost the elections. However, there is no clarity yet on the name of Pro-tem Speaker. In 2015 and 2020, late Sadanand Singh and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi were appointed Pro-tem Speakers. At present, Hari Narayan Singh, 84, is the longest serving legislator. He has been elected 10 times from Harnaut seat in Nalanda. The Governor appoints the Pro-tem Speaker from a panel of names of senior most legislators sent by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat. The six senior most legislators figuring in the panel sent to the Raj Bhawan earlier included the names of Prem Kumar, Bijendra Prasad Yadav (both nine terms), Narendra Yadav, Raghvendra Singh and Shravan Kumar (all eight terms) apart from Hari Narayan Singh. "It is a significant position as the pro-tem speaker not only administers oath to the newly elected members, but also oversees the election of the speaker," he added. BJP, the largest party, is set to retain the crucial position of speaker and Prem Kumar is tipped for the post, though there is no official announcement yet. "Everything has been decided and it is just a matter of time before formal announcement is made," said a senior BJP leader. The Speaker's position remained with the JD(U) since 2005, including in 2015 when JD(U) was part of the Grand Alliance, which won the election. Even after Nitish Kumar switched over to the NDA in 2017, JD(U)'s Vijay Kumar Choudhary continued as speaker for the full term. However, after the 2020 election, BJP made its speaker and Vijay Kumar Sinha continued till Nitish Kumar again went back to the GA fold in 2022 and this time RJD made its leader Awadh Bihari Choudhary the speaker. When Nitish again returned to the NDA fold in 2024, BJP made Nand Kishor Yadav the speaker. After the oath of the legislators and election of speaker, the inaugural session is marked by Governor's address to the joint sitting of both Houses of the state Legislature, when outlines the government's priorities. The inaugural session presents a picture of enthusiasm and varied culture, with members drawn from different regions and cutting across party lines taking oath in different languages and some also in different attires. Ahead of the the oath of newly elected members, Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board chairman Mrityunjay Kumar Jha, who is a BJP leader, has made a request to the newly elected legislators to take the pledge in Sanskrit as far as possible and also circulated a format for them. "In the India knowledge tradition, Sanskrit is not just a language, but a primary medium for transmitting, preserving and developing this rich knowledge system, covering science, philosophy, religion, culture, and literature. It is a unifying language with pan-India link and a global appeal. If the legislators take oath in Sanskrit, it will go a long way in preserving the language and give a boost to Sanskrit education" he said. In 2020, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, then Congress MLA from Kadwa, who lost this time, had surprised everyone by taking oath in Sanskrit, while others depicted the regional flavour taking oath in Sanskrit, Maithili, Urdu, English and Hindi. Khan, an alumnus of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), had later said that he took the oath in Sanskrit to do something different to underline the unity in diversity that India represents. "I tried to give a message to both the BJP and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Our culture is so beautiful and Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. I felt I should take the oath in Sanskrit and I did it," he said. There were a few others who also took oath in Sanskrit....