Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) chief Nitish Kumar was on Monday, 16 November, sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for his fourth straight term and his seventh overall in the presence of senior party leaders and BJP leaders Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Devendra Fadnavis.
“Based on the public’s decision, the NDA has once again formed the government in the state. We will work together and serve the people,” CM Nitish Kumar said on Monday, after the oath-taking ceremony.
The newly formed Bihar Cabinet will hold a meeting on Tuesday, 17 November, while a special session of the state legislative Assembly will be held on 23 November, ANI reported.
PM Narendra Modi extended his congratulations to Nitish Kumar on Monday evening, tweeting, “...NDA family will work together for progress of Bihar. I assure all possible support from Centre for the welfare of Bihar.”
Deputy CMs, Cabinet Ministers Take Oath
Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were sworn in as the state deputy chief ministers after Kumar.
Meanwhile, JDU leaders Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary, and Mewa Lal Choudhary took oath as Cabinet Ministers of Bihar, along with Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Mukesh Sahni of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boycotted the oath-taking ceremony on Monday, as they had stated in a tweet in which it said that "the mandate for change is against the NDA".
NDA Chooses Nitish Kumar as Leader of Alliance
The NDA had managed a wafer thin majority in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, winning 125 seats in the legislative assembly, just three seats over the halfway mark.
On Sunday, Kumar was chosen as leader of the NDA by the newly elected MLAs and MLCs of all four parties which are alliance partners.
Soon after, Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan on Sunday invited Kumar to form the new government in the state after the latter went to the Raj Bhavan in Patna to present a list of 125 NDA MLAs and stake his claim.
According to IANS, Kumar said that he had presented the list of 125 newly elected MLAs of NDA partners BJP, JD(U), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP) and claimed to form the new government.
Criticism over Shifting Alliances
As glorious as it may seem, the road to Kumar's political journey hasn't been easy.
Taking full control of a politically frayed Bihar in 2005, Kumar earned fame for his efforts to develop the state. However, he has often been accused of changing allegiances as a survival technique.
In 2000, Nitish Kumar served as the Bihar CM for just seven days, but he reclaimed the position in 2005 when Kumar led the NDA to victory, ending Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi’s 15-year rule.
In 2013, however, he split with the NDA over Narendra Modi's PM candidacy. He formed a ‘Mahagathbandhan' with the RJD and the Congress and won the 2015 elections, but the alliance didn't last long.
The CM again made a U-turn and rejoined the NDA in 2017.
(With inputs from IANS.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)