Nitish Kumar Takes Oath As Bihar Chief Minister For Fourth Term, RJD Boycotts Ceremony

Nitish Kumar took oath as the Bihar chief minister for a fourth straight term on Monday after the NDA won 125 of the 243 seats in the recently concluded Assembly elections.  

The NDA on Sunday chose Kumar for another term as the Chief Minister and his name was announced by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who had been sent from Delhi as the “observer” for the BJP, according to PTI.

“Nitish Kumar was unanimously elected as the NDA legislature party leader. Our MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were respectively elected as the leader and deputy leader of the BJP legislature party”, Singh told reporters. 

The RJD and Congress have decided to boycott the swearing-in ceremony, saying the “mandate for change was against the NDA”, according to The Hindu .

A 14-member council of ministers, headed by Nitish Kumar, was also sworn in by Governor Phagu Chauhan.

Those who were administered oath of office included two Deputy Chief Minister designates Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, both from the BJP.

Since the post of a Deputy CM is not a constitutional one, the two took oath as ministers and their posts would be notified by the cabinet in due course, according to PTI.

Five ministers were from the JD(U), which is headed by Nitish Kumar, while one each was from smaller allies Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).

JD(U) ministers included old hands like Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary besides new faces Mewa Lal Chaudhary and Sheela Kumari Mandal.

Other than the two Deputy CM designates, those from the BJP included Mangal Pandey who held the health portfolio in the previous government besides Amarendra Pratap Singh, Ramprit Paswan, Jibesh Kumar and Ram Surat Rai.

HAM MLC Santosh Kumar Suman, whose father Jitan Ram Manjhi is a former Chief Minister and the national president of the party, also took oath besides Mukesh Sahni, the founder of VIP who formerly worked as a set designer in the film industry.

(With PTI inputs)