Nitish Elected as Leader of NDA in Bihar, to Take Oath as CM for 10th Time
Ahead of the formation of the new government, Samrat Choudhary was elected leader of the BJP legislative party in Bihar, while Vijay Sinha was elected deputy leader
New Delhi/Patna: JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar is all set to take oath as the Bihar chief minister for the record 10th time on Thursday. The oath-taking ceremony at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several NDA leaders, including chief ministers of the alliance-ruled states.
Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to meet the JD(U) chief to give a final shape to the list of ministers in the new Bihar Cabinet. Sources said the LJP(RV) is likely to get three berths, while the HAM and the RLM could get one berth each. With 16 ministers, the BJP gets the maximum number of Cabinet berths, while the JD(U) will have 14 ministers, along with the chief minister posts.
Mr Kumar was chosen as the leader of the NDA legislature party during the meeting of newly elected MLAs of the alliance partners in Patna on Wednesday. Later in the day, Mr Kumar submitted his resignation as head of the outgoing Bihar government, which was accepted by governor Arif Mohammad Khan.
The JD(U) chief also submitted a letter of support from all NDA constituents to the governor for the formation of the new government. Mr Kumar was accompanied by Union minister Chirag Paswan, RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha and Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya when he went to meet Mr Khan.
The proposal for the leader of the NDA was moved by JD(U)'s Vijay Choudhary and seconded by BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha during the alliance meeting. The proposal was seconded by MLAs of the LJP(RV), HAM and the RLM.
Earlier in the day, Mr Kumar was also elected leader of the JD(U)'s legislature party by the newly elected MLAs of the party. The JD(U) meeting was held at "Samvad", located at the chief minister's secretariat, and attended by all newly elected MLAs and 22 Legislative Council members of the party.
"A proposal for Mr Kumar as the JD(U) legislature party leader was moved by party leaders Vijay Choudhary and Umesh Kushwaha and was seconded by senior JD(U) leader Bijendra Yadav. Later, the proposal was also seconded by JD(U) working national president Sanjay Jha and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh," JD(U) leader Shrawon Kumar said.
"After being elected as the JD(U) legislature party leader, Mr Kumar addressed all the party leaders who attended the meeting and asked them to work tirelessly for the welfare of the state," the JD(U) leader said.
The BJP also held its legislature party meeting during the day and named Mr Choudhary as its leader and Mr Sinha as the deputy leader. The BJP had appointed Mr Maurya as the central observer for the election of the legislature party leader in the state. Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti were named as the co-observers.
The NDA retained power in Bihar by winning 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly, with the BJP bagging 89, the JD(U) 85, the LJP(RV) 19, the HAM 5 and the RLM 4.
