Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time at the Patna Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. This came a day after a huge political turmoil in the state, after which he broke the alliance of Janata Dal-United (JDU) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and announced to form a new “Grand Alliance” which includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other Opposition parties. Tejashwi also took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
Moments after the swearing-in ceremony, Nitish called for a united Opposition ahead of the General elections in 2024. However, the CM made it clear that he is not a contender for the post of prime minister.
“Those who came to power in 2014, will they be victorious in 2024? I would like all (opposition) to be united for 2024. I am not a contender for any such post (on PM post),” Nitish said while speaking to the reporters here.
Elaborating on the break up, Nitish said that he parted ways with the BJP as it was trying to break the JD(U). Nitish also said that the party made the decision together to leave the BJP. “The party made the decision together. I did not want to be the Chief Minister after the previous election. But a lot of pressure was put on me to handle the post. When there were talks with them (points towards Tejashwi Yadav), the decision was made. Whether I will stay or not (till 2024)…they can say what they want, but I will not live in the year 2014,” the Chief Minister said.
He pointed towards the drop in JDU’s numbers. “How many seats did we win in 2015? And then we went with the same people (BJP) and look at what we have been reduced to.” Besides those in the JD(U), Tejashwi Yadav too has said the BJP “usurp its partners”.
When asked about what went wrong with BJP, Nitish said, “you all know it very well…I was not speaking to you all for the last one and half month. My partymen will let you know everything.”
On what was the difference between the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current PM Narendra Modi, Mr. Kumar said, “Vajpayee had given us so much of love, warmth and respect that we cannot ever forget but the situation has quite changed now”.
Earlier, after taking the oath, Tejashwi Yadav touched the feet of Nitish Kumar to seek his blessings.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders sat on dharna at BJP headquarters protesting against Nitish Kumar’s alleged “betrayal”. “BJP made him Chief Minister five times but he (Mr Kumar) betrayed us. The people of Bihar will give him a befitting reply for his conduct in time to come”, said senior state BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi.