Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar Chief Minister for 7th time, to have 2 deputies from BJP

New Delhi (ILNS): Janata Dal United (JDU) President Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth consecutive term (the seventh overall) at the Raj Bhavan today. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda attended the oath taking ceremony. There will be two deputy Chief Ministers.

In the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, NDA secured the majority, winning 125 seats in the 243-member Assembly. The BJP was the clear leader in the alliance with 74 seats. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) secured 43 seats, 28 less than what it secured in 2015.

Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oaths.

·       Four-time MLA from Katihar Tarakishore Prasad and four time MLA from Bettiah, Renu Devi have been chosen as new deputy CM’s for Bihar, replacing party veteran Sushil Kumar Modi. Renu Devi had earlier served as BJP national vice-president. Both the deputy CM’s are from BJP.

·       JDU leaders Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary, and Mewa Lal Choudhary took oath as Cabinet Ministers of Bihar.

·       Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) took oath as a Cabinet Ministers of Bihar.

·       Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Mangal Pandey and Amarendra Pratap Singh took oath as Bihar Cabinet Ministers.

·       Sushil Kumar Modi, who had served as Kumar’s deputy for 15 years has now been replaced. There are speculations that he might be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha for the seat that has fallen vacant with Ram Vilas Paswan’s death, or is likely to be sent to the centre as a Union Minister or named the Governor of a state.

The RJD, Left and the Congress boycotted the oath taking ceremony. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had stated earlier that he will not attend the swearing in ceremony of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.