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Janata Dal-United (JD-U) President Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record ninth time on Sunday after changing sides once again. Kumar formed a new government in the state with the BJP after severing ties with the ‘Grand Alliance’ and the ‘India’ alliance of opposition parties, with which he had severed ties about a year and a half ago. Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Kumar in the presence of BJP national president JP Nadda at Raj Bhawan. Kumar had resigned as chief minister earlier in the day, saying “things were not going well” for him in the ruling grand alliance in Bihar and the opposition ‘India’ alliance. BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary and former Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha also took oath as ministers.
Both have been made Deputy Chief Ministers. Earlier, Choudhary and Sinha were elected the leader and deputy leader respectively of the BJP legislature party. He thanked the party’s top leadership for the occasion and pledged to “protect Bihar from the jungle raj of Lalu Prasad’s RJD.” Along with JD(U) leaders Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Vijendra Yadav and Shravan Kumar. Santosh Kumar Suman of Hindustan Awam Morcha led by former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and independent MLA Sumit Singh also took oath as ministers. Congratulating Kumar and the two Deputy Chief Ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the newly formed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar will leave no stone unturned to fulfill the aspirations of the people of the state. In a post on social media platform ‘X’, he said that he is confident that the new government in Bihar will serve the people with full dedication.
No leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the largest party in the 243-member Assembly in Bihar, was present at the swearing-in ceremony. Lalu Prasad’s son Tejashwi Yadav said, “JD(U) will be wiped out in the upcoming assembly elections. The game is not over yet for us. The game has just begun.” Tejashwi Yadav was the deputy chief minister of the state until Kumar left the ‘grand alliance’. Tejashwi’s elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav and his Singapore-based sister Rohini Acharya made several posts on ‘X’ comparing the JD(U) president to a ‘chameleon’. The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI-ML) launched a scathing attack on Kumar, accusing him of “betrayal”.
CPI-ML had supported the grand alliance government from outside. Party general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, in a scathing comment on Facebook, alleged that Kumar, “who has had the longest tenure as chief minister”, was being used by the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)-BJP as their “pawn”. do. Political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor also hit out at Kumar, saying “switching sides has become a part of his politics” and the BJP may have to pay a “heavy price” for supporting the JDU chief. Who had also cheated him in August 2020. Earlier, after submitting his resignation, Kumar had told reporters, “The government that existed till now has now ended.” I have resigned.
Kumar (72) indicated that he was not happy with the grand alliance in the state and things happening in ‘India’. He said that he helped shape ‘India’, but his efforts were not appreciated appropriately. Kumar said, “You all know how I came into this alliance and how I worked to bring so many parties together, but recently things were not going well. Even my party leaders were not liking it.” He also made an indirect reference to his deep silence on the political turmoil in the state for the last few days. Kumar had resigned after a meeting of the JD(U) legislature party. Kumar joined the Grand Alliance in August 2022. He had severed ties with the BJP, accusing it of trying to “divide” the JD(U).
He formed a new government with a multi-party alliance, which included RJD, Congress and three Left parties. The JD(U) supremo was sworn in as the state chief minister for the first time in 2000, but her government fell within a week. He again became Chief Minister in 2005 and returned to power five years later in 2010. Even after breaking ties with the BJP in 2013, Kumar remained in power because the JD(U) had received outside support from parties like the Congress and the CPI, besides a disgruntled section of the RJD. At that time JD(U) was just a few members short of the majority mark. However, less than a year later, he resigned, taking moral responsibility for JD(U)’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
Less than a year later, he returned as chief minister in November 2015, replacing Jitan Ram Manjhi. At that time, the JD(U), RJD and Congress alliance had won the assembly elections. The grand alliance formed with JD(U), Congress and RJD won a landslide victory in the 2015 assembly elections, but this government fell in just two years. He had resigned in 2017 to form a new government with the BJP in protest against corruption charges against the then Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. He again became the Chief Minister in the 2020 assembly elections.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won this election, while the JD(U) had performed poorly. In the current 243-member Bihar Assembly, JD(U) has 45 MLAs and BJP has 78 MLAs. Kumar also has the support of an independent member. Hindustani Awam Morcha led by Jitan Ram Manjhi is already a part of the NDA. It has four MLAs. Including MLAs from RJD (79 MLAs), Congress (19 MLAs) and Left parties (16 MLAs), the Grand Alliance has 114 MLAs, which is eight short of the majority.
Disclaimer: Prabhasakshi has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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