- Tejashwi Yadav takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister for the second time
- Nitish Kumar takes oath as chief minister of Bihar
Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar, who is scheduled to be sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar on Wednesday afternoon for a record eighth time, spoke to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad before taking oath.
Kumar will be administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan at a simple ceremony inside the Raj Bhavan at 2 pm.
Tejashwi Yadav, whose RJD helms the Grand Alliance that elected Kumar as its leader on Tuesday, is also scheduled to be sworn in, with him returning as the deputy chief minister for the second time.
Earlier, it was understood that only Nitish and Tejashwi will be taking oath though sources in the multi-party Grand Alliance now hint at the possibility of three to five ministers being sworn in.
"Laluji welcomed Nitish's decision and conveyed his wishes to him," the RJD chief's daughter and MP Misa Bharti said. Prasad is recovering from an illness and stays with his daughter in Delhi.
Stripped of power in Bihar, the BJP on Wednesday staged a massive demonstration condemning the betrayal of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose similar volte- face five years ago had helped it join the government through the proverbial back door .
The `Maha Dharna' (massive demonstration) staged in front of the party office at Birchand Patel Marg was attended by all BJP MPs and MLAs from Bihar who vowed to expose the 71 years old JD(U) leader through agitations scheduled at district and block levels later this week.
Nitish Kumar, who was once the bete noire of Yadav, had allied with him before the 2015 assembly polls in Bihar and the alliance swept the elections. Now again seven years later, he has joined hands with the RJD after breaking his alliance with the BJP.
Nitish had on Tuesday quit the BJP, stripping the party of power, before resigning and staking a claim to form a new government, armed with the support of the Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance).
The 71-year-old JD(U) leader first took oath as chief minister in 2000, when he headed an NDA government that lasted only a week. He was back in 2005, this time with his coalition having won an absolute majority in the assembly polls.
The NDA won a landslide victory under his leadership in the assembly polls five years later. Kumar stepped down in 2014, owning moral responsibility for the drubbing of JD(U) in the Lok Sabha polls, but returned less than a year later when he was sworn in for the fourth time.
In 2015, Nitish was back as CM, with the Grand Alliance then comprising the JD(U), RJD and Congress winning a comfortable majority. He resigned in July 2017, citing irreconcilable differences with the RJD, and got sworn in again less than 24 hours later, when he formed a new government with the BJP.
Nitish was sworn in for the seventh time in November 2020, when the NDA retained power, though his own party saw a major fall in its tally for which it blamed a conspiracy by the BJP.
