Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term at a ceremony in Patna which saw attendance by Union Home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda.
BJP leaders Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were also sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, replacing Sushil Kumar Modi who had been Nitish Kumar’s deputy for 15 years. Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office to Kumar, along with a 14-member council of ministers at Raj Bhavan.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boycotted the swearing-in ceremony stating the mandate was against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In a tweet, the RJD said: “The RJD boycotts swearing-in ceremony. The mandate for change is against the NDA. The mandate has been changed on the state’s directions.”
Interestingly, while the RJD boycotted the ceremony, its leader Tejaswi Yadav put out a tweet congratulating Nitish Kumar.
After taking oath, CM Nitish Kumar said, “Based on the public’s decision, NDA has once again formed the government in the state. We will work together and serve the people”.
On Sushil Modi not returning as his deputy, he told ANI, “It is the decision of the BJP to not field Sushil Modi as the Deputy Chief Minister. They should be asked about this.”
Five ministers from JD-U were among those who took the oath. They included Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary, Mewa Lal Choudhary and Sheela Kumari. Those from the BJP included Mangal Pandey, Amrendra Pratap Singh, Ram Prit Paswan and Ram Surat Rai and Jibesh Kumar took oath as ministers.
Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni the founder of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) also took oaths as Cabinet Minister of Bihar. BJP’s Jeevesh Mishra who was also appointed a cabinet minister took oath in Maithili.
BJP’s Bihar in-charge Devendra Fadnavis also participated in the event.
Notably, it is the seventh time that Nitish Kumar is being sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar.
The newly formed Bihar Cabinet is set to hold a meeting on Tuesday. A special session of the state legislative assembly will be held on 23 November.
The NDA has secured a 125-seat majority in the 243-seat strong Bihar Legislative Assembly of which BJP won on 74 seats, JD(U) on 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats while the Congress only won 19 of the 70 seats it had contested on.
WITH ANI INPUTS