PATNA: A day after being unanimously elected leader of the Bihar NDA, JD(U) president Nitish Kumar will on Monday be sworn-in as the state’s chief minister for his seventh term. The swearing-in ceremony will begin at 4.30 pm.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda will attend the oath-taking ceremony, a top source in the party confirmed to news agency ANI.
Earlier on Sunday, Nitish staked his claim to form the new government after handing the letter of support of 126 lawmakers to Governor Phagu Chauhan. The NDA meeting was held in the presence of BJP’s central observer and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Addressing the media later, Nitish said: “I did not want to be the CM, but only after the request and instructions of the leaders of the BJP, I accepted the post,” he said. Within the BJP, Katihar MLA Tar Kishor Prasad was elected its legislature party leader, which suggested he could be made the deputy chief minister.
Perhaps to acknowledge the role of women as silent voters in the NDA victory, the BJP elected Bettiah MLA Renu Devi as deputy leader of the legislature party. Team Nitish could have 15 representatives from the BJP, 12 JD(U) and two each from the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Vikassheel Insaan Party.
This is the seventh time when Nitish Kumar will take an oath to become the Chief Minister of Bihar. 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 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.
(With inputs from ANI)