Nitish Kumar sworn-in as Bihar CM for 4th straight term
Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar has been sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term on Monday. Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan has administered the oath of office and secrecy to the JD (U) president in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Patna. Along with Nitish, 14 other ministers have also reportedly taken oath at the ceremony. Here's more.
Among those who have been sworn-in along with Nitish are BJP leaders Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi - the two Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar. Notably, this is for the seventh time that the JD (U) supremo has taken oath as the Chief Minister. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda, among other leaders, are reportedly attending the swearing-in ceremony.
#WATCH: Nitish Kumar takes oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the seventh time - his fourth consecutive term. pic.twitter.com/5jcZXabSYw
— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2020
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising BJP, JD (U), Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), won the Bihar polls with a wafer-thin majority last week. It bagged 122 seats—with BJP winning 74 and JD (U) securing 43—in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, three above the halfway mark. Meanwhile, with 75 seats, Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the single-largest party.
Nitish was formally elected as the leader of the NDA legislature party at a meeting of the alliance's legislators on Sunday. He later met with Governor Chauhan to submit the letter of support of MLAs and stake claim to form the government in the state.
Among the 14 ministers inducted in Nitish's new cabinet are Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Ashok Choudhary, Mewa Lal Choudhary, and Sheela Mandal of the JD (U) party. From the BJP, Mangal Pandey and Rampreet Paswan took oath as the cabinet ministers of Bihar. Santosh Manjhi of the HAM and Mukesh Mallah of the VIP were also sworn-in at the ceremony.
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the new Nitish-led government in Bihar, opposition parties RJD and the Congress on Monday announced that they would not be attending the event. "The RJD boycotts the swearing-in ceremony. The mandate for change was against the NDA, but the mandate has been replaced by government order," the party posted in Hindi on Twitter.
"Ask the unemployed youth, farmers, contract workers, and teachers of Bihar what they are going through. People are upset with the fraud committed by the NDA. We are the people's representatives and we stand with the people," tweeted the RJD.
