Nitish Kumar sworn in 9th time as Bihar Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar took oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for the record ninth time on Sunday. Some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were among eight others who took oath as minister in Nitish Kumar’s new Bihar Cabinet. These ministers are:

1. JDU’s Bijendra Prasad Yadav took oath as a cabinet minister

2. JDU’s Vijay Kumar Chaudhary took oath as a cabinet minister

3. JD(U)’s Shrawan Kumar took oath as a cabinet minister

4. BJP leader Vijay Sinha took oath as a cabinet minister

5. BJP’s Samrat Choudhary took oath as a cabinet minister

6. BJP’s Dr Prem Kumar took oath as a cabinet minister

7. Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s Santosh Kumar Suman took oath as a minister

8. Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh took oath as a minister

Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha were speculated to be the two Deputy Chief Ministers in new Bihar government.

The oath ceremony of the new government took place at the Raj Bhavan in Patna, Bihar. BJP chief JP Nadda and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan were also present at the event.

Nitish Kumar had resigned from the post of the Bihar Chief Minister earlier on Sunday. The Governor had then accepted the resignation and deputed him as the Acting chief minister.

According to ANI, Kumar told the Governor during the meeting at Raj Bhavan that his party, the JD(U), decided to sever ties with the Mahagathbandhan in the state. In 2022, Nitish Kumar had formed the Bihar government in alliance with the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and Left parties. The coalition was called ‘Mahagathbandhan’.

Now, Nitish Kumar decided to quit this Mahagathbandhan and return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The decision came just ahead of the Lok Sabha Election 2024. This move is expected to impact the Opposition INDIA bloc, of which Nitish Kumar was a key member.

Nitish Kumar told media persons, “Today, I have resigned as the Chief Minister and I have also told the Governor to dissolve the government in the state. This situation came because not everything was alright…I was getting views from everyone. I listened to all of them. Today, the Government has been dissolved…”