Nitish Kumar takes oath as CM of Bihar for record 10th time

JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record 10th time at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan on Thursday.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan administered the oath of office and secrecy.

In all, 22 ministers, including Kumar, were sworn in at the event.

BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Dilip Jaiswal, Mangal Pandey, Sanjay Singh Tiger, Rama Nishad, Arun Shankar Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav and Nitin Nabin and Surendra Prasad Mehta took oath as ministers.

From JD(U), Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrowan Kumar, Ashok Chowdhary, Lesi Singh, Madan Sahni, Sunil Kumar, Mohammad Jama Khan, and Santosh Suman of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) were among others sworn in as ministers.

Choudhary is considered the OBC face of the party. Son of former minister Shakuni Choudhary, he was a member of the legislative council in the state and had served as the deputy chief minister in the previous NDA government. He won the assembly elections from Tarapur this time.

Sinha has been representing the Lakhisarai assembly seat since 2005. He retained the seat by defeating Amaresh Kumar of Congress in the recently concluded assembly polls. Sinha was the deputy chief minister in the previous NDA government in the state. He was the Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from November 25, 2020 to August 24, 2022. He resigned from the post following a no-confidence motion moved against him by the then ruling 'Mahagathbandhan'.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and several other top leaders of NDA. The event will also be attended by chief ministers of several NDA-ruled states.

Kumar resigned as the Bihar CM on Wednesday and then staked claim before Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to form the new government.

A three-day session of the newly constituted Assembly will start from November 26, in which the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be elected and new members will take oath.

The BJP's Prem Kumar is likely to be elected as Speaker of the Assembly.

Sources said the new Cabinet will be expanded after Makar Sankranti on January 14 next year.

Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place, and over three lakh people are anticipated at the event, a senior official said.

The NDA stormed back to power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly, with BJP bagging 89, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM(S) 5 and RLM 4.