Nitish sworn in as Bihar CM for 10th time

 

 

 

BIHAR’S longest-serving Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday sworn in for a record 10th term at a grand ceremony here, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CMs of several NDA-ruled states and senior alliance leaders. Kumar was administered the oath of office at the Gandhi Maidan, where a massive makeshift stage was erected for the ceremony. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, both of whom had arrived in Patna on Wednesday night, were among those on the dais. “Congratulations to Shri Nitish Kumar Ji on taking oath as Bihar’s Chief Minister.

 

He is an experienced administrator with a proven track record of good governance for many years. My best wishes to him for his tenure ahead,” Modi wrote on X. Besides Kumar, 26 Ministers were sworn in on the occasion — 14 from the BJP, 8 from JDU, LJP(RV ) 2, HAM 1 and RLM 1. They included Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both deputy CMs in the previous Govt, who have been elected as the BJP’s leaderanddeputyleader, respectively,followingthepolls.

 

LeadersofseveralNDA-ruled States,includingTDPchiefand AndhraPradeshChiefMinister Chandrababu Naidu, and BJP satraps Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) and Rekha Gupta (Delhi)had flowndowntowitness the ceremony. Witha tallyof 89,theBJPhas emerged as the single largest party in the Bihar Assembly and,predictably,ithadthelion’s share of 14 Ministers in the newly sworn-in Cabinet.

 

Besides Choudhary and Sinha, other BJP leaders who took oath included Mangal Pandey, Nitin Nabin and Surendra Prasad Mehta, all of whom were ministers in the previous Government. State BJP president Dilip Jaiswal,whohadresignedfrom the Cabinet nearly two years ago in keeping with the party’s ‘one person, one post’ policy, was back in the Council of Ministers. Another Minister who is back after a break is Narayan Prasad.Hehadlosthis post in 2022 when the CM abruptlyquittheNDAandwas notre-inductedupontheJD(U) supremo’s return to the BJPled coalition last year.

 

The party has also brought in fresh faces like Shreyasi Singh, a professional shooter ofinternationalfame, whohas been elected from Jamui for a second consecutive term.