Patna, January 28: Janata Dal-United (JD-U) national president Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the ninth time at Raj Bhavan on Sunday after snapping ties with “Mahagathbandhan”.
A total of eight leaders took oath as Cabinet Ministers in the new Government led by Nitish Kumar.
Three from BJP – Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Prem Kumar. Three from JDU – Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawon Kumar and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) President Santosh Kumar Suman and independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh took oath as Ministers.
“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. I came back to where I was (NDA) and now there is no question of going anywhere else,” said Kumar after taking the oath.
After days of speculation, Kumar resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar on Sunday, his second volte face in less than 18 months after snapping ties with the RJD and Congress.
Nitish Kumar cited the state of affairs being “not right” under the Mahagathbandhan alliance as his reason for quitting.
He said that he has been receiving suggestions from everywhere, including his party workers, and he listened to all of them to come to this decision.
Despite turbulence in the State politics, Kumar, 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, the JD(U)’s 45, the Congress’s 19, the CPI (M-L)’s 12, two each of the CPI(M) and CPI, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s four seats, and the AIMIM’s one and one Independent legislator.
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 in the national election.
In 2000, Nitish Kumar became Chief Minister for the first time after campaigning against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘Jungle Raaj’. Till now, he has been Bihar’s CM on eight occasions.
