Nitish sworn in as Bihar CM for record 10th time

Nitish Kumar took oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for the 10th time at a ceremony held at Gandhi Maidan on Thursday, marked by a full show of strength by the NDA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah flew to Patna for the mega event, which saw the ground packed with crowds. PM Modi drew loud applause when he waved his cotton gamcha — his signature gesture at Bihar election rallies.

The stage at Gandhi Maidan featured only two photographs — those of PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar — and every minister who took oath bowed before them while leaving the dais.

After Nitish, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar were sworn in by Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. They took oath as ministers as the post of Deputy CM is not constitutional and has to be notified by the CM’s office.

The other ministers were sworn in groups. Altogether, apart from Nitish Kumar, 26 ministers took oath — 14 from the BJP, eight from the JD(U), two from the LJP and one each from HAM and the RLM. The surprise inclusion was Deepak Prakash, son of RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha. Not a legislator, he must be accommodated in the legislative council within six months. Incidentally, Kushwaha’s wife has also won an Assembly seat. Prakash stood out at the ceremony, arriving in jeans instead of the customary kurta-pyjama. The new ministry has only one Muslim face — Jama Khan of the JD(U), the sole Muslim winner on the NDA ticket.

While the JD(U) relied on old, tested faces like Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Birendra Yadav, Shrawan Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, the BJP experimented by bringing in new names. Shreyasi Singh, a double trap shooting gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with several other achievements, was inducted. She carries a political legacy as well — her late father Digvijay Singh was a Union Minister in the Vajpayee government, and her mother Putul Devi has also been an MP from Banka.

Hope new govt lives up to expectations of people: Tejashwi

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said he hoped the new Bihar government, formed under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s leadership, would “live up to the expectations and aspirations of the people”. The former Deputy CM, who has not been seen in public ever since the INDIA bloc, which had declared him as its chief ministerial candidate, got drubbed in the Assembly polls, came out with a post on his X handle.

The BJP also introduced a new Yadav face — Ram Kripal Yadav, once known as RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s Man Friday until he rebelled after being denied the Pataliputra parliamentary ticket in favour of Lalu’s daughter. He joined the BJP, contested the Pataliputra seat and defeated Misa Bharti. In the recent Assembly polls, he contested from Danapur — a seat where Lalu personally campaigned for history-sheeter Ritlal Yadav against him. Despite this, Ram Kripal won by a comfortable margin. One of his strengths is that nobody understands RJD better than him.

The BJP also brought its state president Dilip Jaiswal back into the ministry, indicating a likely reshuffle in the party’s state leadership soon. Rama Nishad was also inducted — seen as a counter to VIP chief Mukesh Sahani.

In all, 12 of those sworn in are new faces, nine of them from the BJP. Although Bihar can have up to 36 ministers, nine seats have been left vacant, indicating a possible expansion later. Notable omissions included Nitish Mishra, son of former CM Jagannath Mishra, as well as former ministers Maheshwar Hazari and Sanjay Saraogi.

Caste-wise, upper castes secured eight berths, with Rajputs getting the maximum. OBCs received nine positions, Dalits five and the rest went to EBCs. The formation of the ministry also showed that the NDA chose to ignore corruption allegations levelled by Prashant Kishor against senior leaders such as Ashok Choudhary (JD-U), Samrat Choudhary, Mangal Pandey and Dilip Jaiswal — all of whom found a place in the Cabinet.

The Opposition remained absent from the ceremony. However, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav congratulated CM Nitish Kumar on taking oath for the 10th time and extended wishes to the newly inducted ministers via his X handle. Tejashwi, elected leader of the 25-member RJD legislative party, can be recognised as Leader of the Opposition only after the new Speaker administers oath to the newly elected MLAs.