Nitish Kumar became the chief minister of Bihar for the fourth time on Monday as he was administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan. BJP leaders Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers. The oaths were administered in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda.
Veteran party leader Sushil Modi had remained deputy chief minister on earlier occasions.
Nitish has earned the sobriquet of “Sushasan Babu” for initiating wide-ranging reforms in law and order scenario, coming down heavily on criminals. Not surprisingly, this is his fourth consecutive term as CM and seventh overall in Bihar, an unmatched record.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav first sent a congratulatory message to Nitish on becoming the CM. However, the party later tweeted from its official Twitter handle that it would boycott the swearing-in ceremony.
Chirag Paswan, whose party Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), had left the NDA in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections, sent a message to Nitish: “Made by four lakh people of Bihar, I am sending the ‘Bihar First, Bihari First’ vision document to you so that whatever work you can complete from it.” Chirag had campaigned against Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish and is blamed for the loss of many seats.
It is not clear as to what will be the fate of Paswan in the coming days in NDA at the Centre. It needs to be pointed here that LJP is a part of the NDA at the Centre. There is no official word about Sushil Modi either though it is being said that he may be moved to the Centre. There is some speculation that he may get the Rajya Sabha seat which had fallen vacant after Ram Bilas Paswan’s death.
JD (U) lesders Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Ashok Choudhary and Mewa Lal Choudhary took oath as cabinet ministers during the same function. Santosh Kumar Suman, son of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni, besides BJP leaders Mangal Pandey and Amarendra Pratap Singh were also sworn in.
The inclusion of Renu Devi as Deputy Chief Minister from the BJP is being interpreted as an acknowledgement of contribution of women to return of the NDA coalition government in Bihar again. In the 243-member assembly, NDA got 125 seats while rival Mahagathbandhan has 110 seats collectively.
