Nitish to take oath as Bihar CM again, this time with BJP support

Patna, July 26

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JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar is all set to take oath as Bihar Chief Minister once again at 5 pm onThursday. The announcement came soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party announced on Wednesday evening that it would support him to continue as chief minister. Hours earlier Nitish Kumar had resigned from his position over corruption charges against his deputy Tejaswi Yadav.

BJP leaders arrived at Nitish Kumar's residence at 1 Anne Marg in Patna late in the evening.

State BJP chief Nityanand Rai submitted a letter supporting next government under Nitish Kumar to Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi.

Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) has 71 legislators and BJP-led NDA has 58 MLAs even as 122 are required to form government in the 243-member Bihar Assembly.

“Legislators of NDA constituents and JD (U) will meet and elect Nitish Kumar as their leader, BJP will be part of government,” senior party leader Sushil Modi said on Wednesday evening.

This came after the party announced it was not in favour of mid-term elections.

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Emerging from the meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board attended, among others, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after Kumar made his announcement to step down, senior party leader J P Nadda said the board is against mid-term polls in the state.

He also said a three-member panel has been formed in Bihar to talk to BJP MLAs and report to the leadership to help it take a final call.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Nitish Kumar’s decision was along “expected” lines. — TNS/PTI

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