In a major development ahead of Lok Sabha polls this year, Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar on Sunday took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the record 9th time with the support of the BJP after walking out of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Bihar Chief Minister during a swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Patna this evening, hours after he dissolved his Cabinet after snapping ties with “Mahagathbandhan” to once again align with the saffron party.
Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office to Nitish Kumar during the swearing-in ceremony. Bihar unit BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary, and Vijay Kumar Sinha were named as Deputy Chief Ministers.
Choudhary was on Sunday chosen as the leader of the BJP’s legislature party, paving the way for him to become the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister. BJP’s Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and six other ministers including JDU’s Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, JDU’s Bijendra Prasad Yadav, BJP’s Dr Prem Kumar, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) president Dr Santosh Kumar Suman, JDU’s Shravan Kumar, Independent MLA from Chakai Sumit Kumar Singh took oath as Cabinet ministers in the new Nitish Kumar-led government.
BJP national president JP Nadda was also present in the swearing-in ceremony.
Soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Nitish Kumar for becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar, and Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha for becoming Deputy Chief Ministers of the state.
In a post on X in Hindi, the Prime Minister said: “The NDA Government formed in Bihar will leave no stone unturned for the development of the state and to fulfill the aspirations of its people. I am confident that this team will work in a dedicated manner for my family members of Bihar.”
After taking oath for the ninth time as Bihar Chief Minister, CM Nitish Kumar asserted that his alliance with the NDA will remain forever, adding that now there is no question of going anywhere else.
“I was with them (NDA) earlier too. We went on different paths, but now we are together and will remain so. Today, eight people have taken oath as ministers. The rest will take oath soon. Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha have been appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers,” Nitish Kumar told reporters.
When asked about RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s statement that “JDU will be finished in 2024”, Bihar CM said that our party will work for the development and progress of the state.
“We work for the development and progress of Bihar. We will keep doing the same, nothing else. Tejashwi was not doing anything. Now I came back to where I was (NDA) and now there is no question of going anywhere else,” he added.
The BJP national president and Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and other party leaders showed a victory sign, after the formation of the NDA government in Bihar.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Nadda said it is on record that whenever the NDA forms government in Bihar, stability and development take a quantum leap.
“Under the leadership of PM Modi, the NDA will sweep the Lok Sabha elections and will form the government,” he said.
The BJP national president said, “Nitish ji has returned to NDA, it is a matter of happiness for us. The people of Bihar gave the mandate to NDA. JDU and Nitish Ji’s natural alliance is NDA only.”
The fresh development — BJP-JD-U alliance — came just ahead of the general elections, which, according to the political analysts, is expected to give the saffron party an edge in putting up a “strong performance” in the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
Bihar has a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats.
After days of speculation, JDU chief Kumar resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar on Sunday, his second volte face in less than 18 months. Snapping ties with the RJD and Congress, Nitish formed the government with BJP’s support.
Despite turbulence in state politics, Nitish, whether with the Mahagathbandhan or the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has managed to retain the CM’s chair and ensured that his party has not split over his repeated flip-flops.
In the Bihar Assembly of 243, the RJD has 79 MLAs; followed by the BJP’s 78; JDU’s 45, Congress’ 19, CPI-ML’s 12, two each of the CPM and CPI, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s four seats, and the AIMIM’s one, plus one Independent legislator.
Nitish Kumar, after parting ways with the BJP in 2022, took on the initiative of uniting all opposition forces to jointly take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election.
In 2022, Nitish Kumar had snapped ties with the BJP once again, alleging that the BJP was conspiring against him and trying to influence JDU MLAs to rebel against him.
