What Bihar's new deputy CM Samrat Choudhary said about removing turban and his old ‘vow’ regarding Nitish Kumar

Samrat Choudhary, along with Vijay Kumar Sinha of the Bharatiya Janata Party, were appointed as deputy chief ministers to Nitish Kumar on Sunday.

Published on: Jan 29, 2024, 20:17:18 IST

By HT News Desk

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BJP leader Samrat Choudhary, the new deputy chief minister of Bihar, has responded to the criticism related to his turban.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary at the Raj Bhawan in Patna on January 28. (Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

Choudhary, along with Vijay Kumar Sinha of the Bharatiya Janata Party, were appointed as deputy chief ministers to Nitish Kumar on Sunday.

Kumar ditched the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc INDIA and formed a new government with the BJP in Bihar on Sunday. Overall, it was his fifth crossover in a little over a decade, preceding his ninth time as chief minister.

Samrat Choudhary moved to the BJP from JD(U) in 2018. He was named the vice-president of the state unit in 2018 and became a minister in the chief minister Nitish government after the NDA won the 2020 assembly polls.

He started sporting a saffron turban in 2022 after Nitish left the NDA and again joined hands with the RJD and Congress, saying that he would take it off after “dethroning” Nitish.

Also Read | Bihar politics: Nitish Kumar's past detractors made deputies in new realignment

On Sunday, on a question about his vow, Choudhary struck a conciliatory note saying that he made the promise in an emotional moment.

“The BJP is like a second mother to me. When my mother left, I tied the turban. Today, if I have to bow my head in Ayodhya in honour of the second mother, I am willing to do,” he said during a press conference.

He added: “In Ayodhya, I will unveil the turban. I will bow my head at the feet of Lord Ram”.

Also Read | Bihar politics: Why did Nitish Kumar leave NDA and form government with RJD in 2022?

Nitish Kumar quit the INDIA bloc on Sunday, saying “things were not working well” in the alliance. He later formed a government in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Nitish Kumar had first switched over from the NDA to the Mahagathbandhan in 2013. He then quit the alliance in 2017 and moved to the NDA. In 2022, he yet again joined hands with Lalu Yadav's party.

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