Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the 10th time in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, and other NDA leaders at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Thursday.
File Photo
Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the 10th time in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, and other NDA leaders at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Thursday.
In the grand swearing-in ceremony, BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar.
Advertisement
Along with Nitish, 26 ministers from NDA’s constituent parties — 14 from BJP, 8 from JD(U), 2 from LJP (Ram Vilas), and 1 each from HAM and RLM — took oath.
Advertisement
PM Modi once again waved his ‘gamchha’ in his signature style to express his gratitude to the people of Bihar. His iconic ‘gamchha wave’ stole the show.
Congratulating Nitish Kumar on taking oath as Bihar’s Chief Minister in a post on X, the PM said, “He is an experienced administrator with a proven track record of good governance for many years. My best wishes to him for his tenure ahead.”
He also congratulated Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha on becoming Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar and mentioned, “Both leaders have worked extensively at the grassroots in serving people.”
Expressing confidence in the newly-appointed ministers, he wrote, “This is a wonderful team, with dedicated leaders who will take Bihar to new heights.”
Social engineering was visible again in Nitish Kumar’s selection of ministers from the JD(U), as Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Bhumihar), Vijendra Prasad Yadav (Yadav), Sravan Kumar (Kurmi), Ashok Chaudary (Pasi), Leshi Singh (Rajput), Madan Sahni (Nishad), Sunil Kumar (Dusadh), and Mohammad Zama Khan (Minority) returned to the cabinet.
From the BJP, Dilip Jaisawal, Mangal Pandey, Ram Kripal Yadav, Nitin Navin, Rama Nishad, Lakhendra Kumar Roshan, Shreyasi Singh, Dr Pramod Kumar, Sanjay Singh Tiger, Arun Shankar Prasad, Surendra Mehta, and Narayan Prasad were sworn in.
Chirag Paswan ensured that Sanjay Singh, who defeated Tej Pratap Yadav from Mahua, and Sanjay Paswan were made ministers from the LJP (Ram Vilas).
Jitan Ram Manjhi got his son Santosh Suman appointed as minister, while Upendra Kushwaha nominated his son Deepak Prakash as minister from the RLM quota. Deepak Prakash is expected to be nominated as a Member of the Legislative Council.
BJP state president Dilip Jaisawal has been rewarded with a ministerial post for his exemplary leadership during the Assembly elections of 2025.
The return of Samrat Choudhary, Dilip Jaisawal, Mangal Pandey, and Ashok Chaudary to the cabinet despite Prashant Kishor’s serious allegations of corruption proves the BJP-JD(U) leadership’s confidence in them.
In the past, the BJP had replaced Deputy Chief Ministers Sushil Modi, Renu Devi, and Tarkishor Prasad, but couldn’t take the chance to replace Samrat Choudhary because his Kushwaha community can influence election results in 50-55 assembly seats. The BJP lost many seats during the parliamentary elections of 2024 because the community was annoyed.
Cabinet expansion is expected after Makar Sankranti (14 January 2026).
Advertisement
