Monday, 29 January 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Speculations swirling over Nitish Kumar’s another switch from the grand alliance to the saffron camp ended with the JD(U) president being sworn in for a record ninth time as the chief minister of Bihar. This time, Kumar formed the government with BJP’s support. Notably, 18 months ago, Nitish fell out with BJP and finally parted ways with the saffron party despite his party having contested and won the 2020 Assembly election as a constituent of the NDA. He then had joined the RJD-Congress coalition in August 2022, leading to the formation of the grand alliance government with Nitish as CM and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy.
Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nitish Kumar at Raj Bhavan in Patna, attended by the BJP president JP Nadda among others. Alongside Nitish, senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha and the State BJP chief Samrat Choudhary were sworn in as deputy CMs while BJP’s Prem Kumar took oath as a minister. Earlier, Nitish had resigned as the chief minister of the grand alliance government and staked claim to form a new Government with the BJP. RJD and Congress boycotted the swearing-in.
