New Delhi [India], November 16 (ANI): Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term on Monday afternoon after closely-fought legislative assembly elections in the state.
Notably, it is the seventh time when Nitish Kumar is being sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda attended the oath-taking ceremony of JD(U) chief as the new Chief Minister of the state. BJP’s Bihar in-charge Devendra Fadnavis also participated in the event.
Nitish Kumar‘s new deputies – BJP’s Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were also sworn in today.
The main opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boycotted the swearing-in ceremony stating the mandate was against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In a tweet, the RJD said: “The RJD boycotts swearing-in ceremony. The mandate for change is against the NDA. The mandate has been changed on the state’s directions. Ask the unemployed, farmers, contract workers and employed teachers of Bihar what is going on with them. The public is agitated by the fraud of the NDA. We are the public’s representatives and stand with them.”
Kumar, after meeting Governor Phagu Chauhan to stake claim to form NDA government in Bihar, had on Sunday announced that the oath-taking, as well as the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet, will be held at around 4.30 pm on Monday.
The leaders of the NDA legislature party, which had secured a victory in the recently-concluded election in Bihar, had on Sunday met to deliberate on selecting a leader to lead the party. It had named Kumar as the leader of the NDA legislature party thus paving the way for his return as chief minister for the fourth consecutive term. BJP’s Tarkishore Prasad, the MLA from Bihar‘s Katihar, replaced Sushil Modi as his deputy.
He had served as the Chief Minister of the state for little over seven days in March 2000, after which he was elected in 2005 when he served a full term.
He was re-elected to power in November 2010, after which he served for four years before resigning, and had again taken oath as Chief Minister in February 2015. He was voted to power in the 2015 Assembly election as part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
However, after corruption allegations were levelled against his deputy Tejashwi Yadav in 2015, Nitish resigned only to be sworn in as Chief Minister merely 12 hours later joining hands with the BJP to form a government in the state.
The NDA has secured a 125-seat majority in the 243-seat strong Bihar Legislative Assembly of which BJP won on 74 seats, JD(U) on 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats while the Congress only won 19 of the 70 seats it had contested on. (ANI)
‘We will work together and serve the people’, says Nitish Kumar after taking oath as Bihar CM
Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term at a ceremony here in which saw attendance by Union Home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda.
BJP leaders Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were also sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, replacing Sushil Kumar Modi who had been Nitish Kumar‘s deputy for 15 years.
Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office to Kumar, along with a 14-member council of ministers at Raj Bhavan here.
The main opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boycotted the swearing-in ceremony stating the mandate was against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
After taking oath, the chief minister said, “Based on the public’s decision, NDA has once again formed the government in the state. We will work together and serve the people”.
On Sushil Modi not returning as his deputy, Kumar told ANI, “It is the decision of the BJP to not field Sushil Modi as the Deputy Chief Minister. They should be asked about this.”
Five ministers from JDU were among those who took the oath. They included Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary, Mewa Lal Choudhary and Sheela Kumari.
Those from the BJP included Mangal Pandey, Amrendra Pratap Singh, RamPrit Paswan and Ram Surat Rai and Jibesh Kumar took oath as ministers.
Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni the founder of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) also took oaths as Cabinet Minister of Bihar.
BJP’s Jeevesh Mishra who was also appointed a cabinet minister took oath in Maithili.
BJP’s Bihar in-charge Devendra Fadnavis also participated in the event.
Notably, it is the seventh time that Nitish Kumar is being sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar.
In a tweet, the RJD said: “The RJD boycotts swearing-in ceremony. The mandate for change is against the NDA. The mandate has been changed on the state’s directions. Ask the unemployed, farmers, contract workers and employed teachers of Bihar what is going on with them. The public is agitated by the fraud of the NDA. We are the public’s representatives and stand with them.”
Tejaswi Yadav later put out a tweet congratulating Nitish Kumar.
Kumar had on Sunday met Governor Phagu Chauhan to stake claim to form NDA government in Bihar.
The newly formed Bihar Cabinet is set to hold a meeting tomorrow. A special session of the state legislative assembly will be held on November 23.
Nitish Kumar thanks PM Modi, other leaders for good wishes on taking oath as Bihar CM
Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar on Monday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other political leaders for their best wishes on his taking oath as Chief Minister on Monday for fourth consecutive time.
“Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modiji for the best wishes,” Bihar Chief Minister said in a tweet.
He also thanked Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Hardeep Singh Puri, Nirmala Sitharaman and Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP leaders JP Nadda, BL Santhosh, Sushil Kumar Modi, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Poonam Mahajan for their wishes.
The JD-U leader took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Rupa Ganguly said the previous NDA government had done good work and that is why it was returned to power.
Asked about the impact of Bihar election results on assembly polls in West Bengal next year, she said, “Election results in one state do not affect the results in another state. But people of Bengal are very politically aware, and they’ll make the informed choice.” (ANI)
