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NDA to pick new Bihar CM after Nitish Kumar’s Rajya Sabha oath, says BJP leader
Sanjay Saraogi said Nitish Kumar, who resigned as a legislative council member last week after his election to the Rajya Sabha, will take the oath on April 10.
The process for the formation of the new government in Bihar will commence shortly after chief minister Nitish Kumar, the state’s longest-serving CM, takes oath as a Rajya Sabha member on April 10, Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sanjay Saraogi said on Sunday.
Saraogi said Nitish Kumar, who resigned as a legislative council member last week after his election to the Rajya Sabha, will take the oath on April 10.
“After that, the central leadership of the BJP and the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) will elect the leader. Nitish Kumar will also be part of the process,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Also Read: How Bihar fortunes changed in two decades of Nitish Kumar’s rule
Kumar has called a meeting of the state cabinet on April 8, possibly the last meeting under his leadership, before he leaves for Delhi the following day.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) commands a brute majority of 202 in the 243-member Bihar assembly. The BJP is the largest group in the assembly with 88 seats, while Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United has 85 members.
Nitish Kumar’s decision to enter the Rajya Sabha signals the end of an era in the heartland state just months after winning a thumping majority in assembly polls along with the BJP, which appears set to have its first chief minister in the state.
There has been no formal word about Kumar’s successor in Patna.
Deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Sunday played down speculation about the race for the top post. “Bihar has an NDA government, and it will continue to have one. In the NDA, there is no ‘elder’ or ‘younger’ brother; a brother is a brother,” Sinha said, refusing to comment on specific names.
“The decision will be taken when the time comes, and the position falls vacant. The process is known to all. Once he resigns, the process of forming a new government will get underway. There is no need to hurry things up as Bihar will continue to have an NDA government,” he added.
