JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar is set to be elected as the leader of the NDA in Bihar on Wednesday, ahead of the formation of the new government under his leadership in the state on November 20, a party leader said.
Kumar, who will take oath as Bihar CM for a record 10th time at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan on Thursday, will be first elected as leader of the JD(U) legislature party and then the leader of the NDA during a meeting of the constituents of the five-party alliance, he said.
Talking to PTI Video, JDU working national president Sanjay Jha said, "Nitish Kumar will be first elected as leader of our legislature party on Wednesday. After that, he will be elected as NDA leader by the newly elected MLAs of all alliance partners." Kumar will meet Governor Arif Mohammad Khan in the evening, requesting him to initiate the process for the formation of the new government, the JD(U) leader said.
He will also tender his resignation to the governor as the head of the outgoing government, another JD(U) leader said.
Kumar will also submit a letter of support from all NDA constituents to the governor for the formation of the new government, he said.
The current assembly will be dissolved on Wednesday, he said.
Several ministers will also take the oath along with the CM on Thursday.
NDTV sources have said nine MLAs from the BJP, 10 from JDU, and one each from Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awami Morcha, and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha may take the oath tomorrow.
From the BJP's quota, Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha, Nitin Navin, Renu Devi, Mangal Pandey, Neeraj Bablu, Sanjay Sarawagi, Hari Sahni, and Rajnish Kumar may take the oath. Eight out of these nine leaders were ministers in the outgoing government.
BJP has tried to strike a caste balance by accommodating two Bhumihar leaders, two from EBC, and one each from the Brahman and Rajput communities. It has also accommodated the Kayastha and Vaishya groups.
From the JDU quota, 10 MLAs are likely to be sworn in at the Gandhi Maidan event tomorrow. These are Vijay Choudhary, Shrawan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Zama Khan, Ratnesh Sada, Leshi Singh, Bijender Yadav, Shyam Rajak, Sunil Kumar and Damodar Rawat. Eight of these MLAs were ministers in the outgoing government.
The JDU, too, has balanced caste equations in its ministerial choices, with four Dalits and the representation of Muslims, Yadavs, EBCs, Rajputs and Bhumihars.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, several other union ministers and CMs of NDA-ruled states are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
A large number of security personnel have been deployed in the state capital and around Gandhi Maidan, officials said.
The NDA stormed back to power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with BJP bagging 89, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM 5 and RLM 4.
