Nitish elected NDA leader, to take oath as CM for 10th time today

JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar was chosen the leader of the NDA in Bihar during a meeting of newly elected MLAs of the alliance partners in Patna on Wednesday, setting the stage for his historic 10th swearing-in as the Chief Minister of the state.

Nitish went to the Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. The Governor accepted his resignation and asked him to continue as the caretaker CM till a new government is formed.

Nitish staked his claim to form the government with the signatures of 202 MLAs in the 243-member House.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 11 am on Thursday at Gandhi Maidan. PM Narendra Modi, union ministers and 11 chief ministers of NDA-ruled states are scheduled to attend the event.

Nitish took oath for the first time in 2000, but the government lasted just seven days.

After November 2005, he has been holding the post continuously except for around 10 months in 2014 when he handed over the position to Jitan Ram Manjhi — only to reclaim it after Manjhi revolted against him.

This will be the fourth time Nitish will take oath at Gandhi Maidan. Earlier, he had taken oath here in 2005, 2010 and 2015. In between, most of the swearing-in ceremonies were held on the Raj Bhavan premises.

“Not a single MLA of the NDA had any doubt about Nitish being the CM again,” said JD(U) MLA Jayant Raj.

Ever since the results were announced and the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 89 MLAs, there were a lot of speculations that the saffron party might trigger a leadership change. The names of several senior leaders of the party were doing the rounds. However, BJP central observer and UP Deputy CM Keshav Maurya named Samrat Choudhary as the party’s legislature party leader and Vijay Sinha as the deputy leader. Both of them are expected to retain their Deputy CM slots. They thanked the BJP leadership for reposing faith in them.

One of the main reasons why the BJP stuck to Nitish as the CM face is the fact that he enjoys substantial support among the OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes.

The JD(U) held a meeting of its MLAs at the CM’s residence. A resolution to make Nitish the legislature party leader was moved by his close aide Vijay Choudhary and seconded by state JD(U) chief Umesh Kushwaha.

In his brief speech, Nitish thanked them and said the huge mandate meant greater responsibility. He also thanked PM Modi for the enormous help in “creating a new Bihar”.

The meeting of NDA MLAs was held at the central hall of the Bihar Assembly. The moment Nitish came inside the hall, all MLAs stood up and cheered him. He was flanked by Samrat Choudhary and Chirag Pawan.

The resolution to make Nitish the leader of legislature party was moved by Samrat Choudhary and seconded by leaders of all alliance partners.

Accompanied by leaders of the alliance partners, Nitish went to the Raj Bhavan around 4.30 pm and submitted his resignation.

The list of new ministers is yet to be made public. Insiders have not ruled out some changes.