The oath-taking ceremony comes a day after Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD to form a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) government
The oath-taking ceremony comes a day after Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD to form a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) government
JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time on August 10 in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav was administered the oath of office as Deputy Chief Minister. Other cabinet members will be taking the oath later.
After taking the oath, Mr. Kumar told media persons that he would not be the Chief Minister in 2024. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Kumar said, “he (Mr Modi) had come to power in 2014 but not sure he would remain there in 2024”.
The no-frills ceremony comes a day after Mr. Kumar snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD to form a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) government.
Party sources told The Hindu that the final list of leaders to take oath as Ministers in the new Cabinet are being finalized by Tejashwi Yadav and the list will “eventually be sent to party chief Lalu Prasad in Delhi for his approval”.
Ailing Mr. Prasad is currently recuperating in Delhi.
If party sources are to be believed there would be 16 Ministers, including Dy CM Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav from RJD in the new cabinet.
Names of other party leaders like Alok Mehta, Lalit Yadav, Anita Devi, Kumar Sarvajit, Bhai Birendra, Surendra Ram, Veena Singh are others doing rounds in political circle for taking oath as Ministers in the new cabinet.
It is also said that as many as 13 leaders from JD(U) would take oath as Ministers in the new Cabinet. Names of leaders from the party like Vijay Choudhary, Ashok Choudhary, Bijendra Yadav, Sanjay Jha, Upendra Kushwaha, Shrawan Kumar, Zama Khan are floating to become Ministers.
From another mahagathbandhan ally, Congress party names of State party president Madan Mohan Jha, Ajit Sharma, Shakil Ahmad Khan and Rajesh Kumar Ram are probable to take oath as Ministers in the new Cabinet on Wednesday.
Names of Santosh Kumar Manjhi, son of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) Jitan Ram Manjhi from HAM(S) too is being taken as probable Minister to take oath today in the new cabinet.
The Left parties Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPM are likely to support the new government from outside.
“They may not be the part of the government”, said a senior RJD leader.
Hectic meetings of leaders of mahagathbandhan are currently going on at the residence of their party chiefs in Patna to finalize the list of probable Ministers from their respective quotas.
