Nitish Kumar meets Bihar governor, will take oath for 10th time tomorrow morning

Nitish Kumar was elected as leader of the newly elected MLAs of the five-party alliance on Wednesday

PATNA: Janata Dal-United president Nitish Kumar, 75, will take oath as the Bihar chief minister for a record 10th time on Thursday, his party said after Kumar was elected as leader by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) legislators in Bihar.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as he leaves the NDA’s legislators meeting in Patna on Wednesday. (CMO)

JD-U leader Shrawon Kumar, who was a minister in Bihar’s outgoing cabinet, said Nitish Kumar was elected as leader at a meeting of newly elected MLAs of the alliance partners on Wednesday.

Soon after, Kumar went to Raj Bhavan to formally submit his resignation as chief minister and stake claim to start a fresh term. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, LJP-R chief Chirag Paswan, HAM-S chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha accompanied him to the meeting with governor Arif Mohammed Khan

Khan will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Nitish Kumar at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan at 11.30 am on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to fly down to Patna to attend the oath event apart from other top party leaders including home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda.

The NDA stormed to power in Bihar in the recently concluded assembly polls, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with the BJP bagging 89, the JD(U) 85, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 19, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) five and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha four.

At the NDA meeting, BJP leader Samarat Choudhary proposed that Nitish Kumar be the next chief minister; the other MLAs unanimously supported the motion.

After his election, Nitish Kumar, who had beaten two decades of anti-incumbency in the state elections, said the state had changed significantly since he first took office and pledged to ensure the pace of development would improve further with central assistance.

“Did the previous government do anything? We started the work in 2006 and this time we have to do even more. The Prime Minister and others have also been coming to Bihar frequently and there has been a lot of central help,” he added.

Kumar’s two deputy chief ministers, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, have been elected as the BJP legislature party’s leader and deputy leader, respectively, clearing the decks for their continuation in the same position for the second time.