Decks were cleared for JD(U) president Nitish Kumar to take oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for a record 10th time as he met Governor Arif Mohammad Khan in Raj Bhavan on Wednesday evening to stake his claim to form the next NDA government.
Days after spearheading the incumbent coalition to a landslide victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, Nitish submitted his resignation as the head of the outgoing NDA government to the Governor, who accepted it, asking him to continue as the caretaker CM until the formation of a new government.
Nitish, 74, will be sworn in as the CM at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna at 11 am on Thursday. A slew of top BJP and NDA leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and the Chief Ministers of several states, will be present at the event.
Before his visit to Raj Bhavan, Nitish was unanimously elected as the NDA leader at a meeting of its 202 newly elected MLAs in Central Hall of the Bihar Assembly. A huge garland was put around him in the presence of the NDA leaders, including Union Minister and the BJP’s Bihar poll in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, LJP (RV) chief Chirag Paswan, RLM president Upendra Kushwaha and HAM (S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Earlier in the day, the legislature parties of the JD(U) and the BJP held their separate meetings to elect their respective leaders, with the JD (U) MLAs naming Nitish as their leader. Nitish has been a member of the Bihar Legislative Council for multiple terms since 2005.
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At the BJP legislators’ meeting, the party’s central observer Keshav Prasad Maurya, the UP Deputy CM, declared Samrat Choudhary as the BJP Legislature Party leader and Vijay Kumar Sinha as the deputy leader again, making it clear that both of them would retain their position as the Deputy CM in the new Nitish Cabinet too.
While Choudhary won from the Tarapur seat, Sinha retained the Lakhisarai constituency in the election.
Sources said more than 20 ministers would also take their oath of office along with Nitish at the Gandhi Maidan ceremony. While the BJP, which has emerged as the single largest party, is likely to retain Mangal Pandey, Nitish Mishra and Nitin Nabin in the Nitish Cabinet, the party could also name some new faces as ministers.
The JD (U) is also likely to retain its senior ministers Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Shravan Kumar while inducting a few new faces into the Nitish ministry, sources said.
Among the NDA allies, the LJP (RV) is likely to get three ministerial berths, which Chirag may allot to a Paswan (Scheduled Caste), an EBC and an upper caste leader. The RLM may get one portfolio which could go to Kushwaha’s wife Snehlata, who won from the Sararam seat. The HAM (S) is also likely to get one ministry for its incumbent nominee Santosh Kumar Suman, Manjhi’s son.
Sources said the BJP bargained hard with the JD (U) to retain the Speaker’s position in the new House. Senior BJP leader and former minister Prem Kumar is likely to assume the position of the new Speaker.
The elections saw the NDA storming back to power, bagging 202 seats as against the Opposition Mahagathbandhan’s 35 in the 243-member Assembly, with the BJP winning 89 seats, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM 5 and RLM 4.