Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the fourth straight term along with 14 other ministries as National Democratic Alliance(NDA) won the majority in the recently concluded Bihar elections.
Out of the fourteen ministers, two are deputy chief ministries, Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi from the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) who will be among those taking oath on Monday at the event which will be attended by Home Minister Amit Shah.
On Sunday, Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Nitish Kumar was formally named as the chief minister and leader of the alliance at the legislator meeting of the National Democratic Alliance(NDA).
The NDA won 125 seats in the 243-member state Assembly, three above the halfway mark. The JDU which is the alliance partner of the NDA in Bihar, has just won only 43 seats in the state’s assembly elections and the BJP managed to win 74 seats in the state. The JDU in 2015 assembly polls had won 71 seats and has come down by twenty-eight seats.
BJP leader and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi has been replaced as he is likely to be sent to the centre as a Union Minister. Sushil Modi on Sunday said , “The BJP and the Sangh Parivar gave me so much in the political life of 40 years. I will discharge the responsibility that will be given to me. No one can take away the post of the party worker,”
Vijendra Yadav, Vijay Choudhary, Ashok Choudhary, Mewalal Choudhary, and Sheela Mandal from JDU and BJP leaders Mangal Pandey and Rampreet Paswan are among the 14 ministers being inducted in Nitish Kumar’s new cabinet today.
Santosh Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha(HAM), and Mukesh Mallah of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) will also be sworn in today.
Nitish Kumar on Sunday told reporters that there will be ‘more development’ and ‘no inadequacy.’ He said, “After the ceremony, the cabinet will decide when the House will convene,”
He further added, “Bihar people have given this opportunity so there is more development.. there should be no inadequacy.”
The NDA has repeatedly assured that Nitish Kumar will be the next chief minister of Bihar, even when another alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party(LJP) leader Chirag Paswan rebelled against Kumar’s leadership and decide to contest the elections solo.
The question now arises about whether LJP leader Paswan, who in his election campaign attacked Nitish Kumar and had spoken about ‘Nitish-Mukt Bihar.’ The BJP however had said that anyone not accepting Nitish Kumar’s leadership would not be considered part of the NDA.
Opposition leader, Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal which emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats took dig at JDU’s Nitish Kumar and said the voters made it clear that they wanted change.
He said, “See where Nitish Kumar’s glow has gone. He has been pushed to the third position. This is a mandate for change.”