Putting to rest days long speculations and political turmoil in Bihar, Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of the state for a record 9th time on Sunday evening, hours after he resigned from the post following his exit from the Mahagathbandhan.
Nitish, in his fifth flip-flop in a decade, formed the fresh government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP MLAs Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha will be his deputies.
Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office at a function held at Raj Bhawan. Besides Nitish and his deputies, JD(U) members Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Yadav and Shrawan Kumar also took oath apart from former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustan Awam Morcha's Santosh Kumar Suman and independent legislator Sumit Singh.
VIDEO | @NitishKumar sworn in as Bihar CM for the 9th time at Raj Bhavan in Patna.#BiharChiefMinister #NitishKumar pic.twitter.com/qUYTrgPnok
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 28, 2024
Congratulating Nitish, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the newly sworn-in NDA government in Bihar will leave no stone unturned for the state's development and to fulfil people's aspirations.
Earlier in the day, Nitish, president of the JD(U), announced his decision to end the alliance with his ruling partners—RJD and Congress—and join hands with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, a move that has taken the opposition INDIA bloc back to the drawing board just months ahead of the general elections.
The 72-year-old leader resigned as the chief minister, saying "things were not working well" for him in the Mahagathbandhan and the INDIA alliance, and staked claim to form a new government.
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In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, RJD is the single largest party with 79 MLAs. The BJP has 78, JD(U) 45, Congress 19, CPI (ML) 12, and two each for CPI and CPI(M). Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) has four seats while the AIMIM has one.
The political developments in Patna have come as a crushing irony for the INDIA bloc, formed to take on the BJP at the national level, as it was Nitish who had initiated the process of consulting with the opposition parties to form a grand alliance.
