Bihar Govt Formation LIVE UPDATES: Nitish Kumar Takes Oath For The 7th Time As Bihar Chief Minister, PM Modi Congratulates Cabinet Ministers
Bihar Government Formation LIVE UPDATES: Nitish Kumar takes oath as the Bihar Chief Minister along with 14 ministers from NDA parties.
Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi from Bhartiya Janata Party took oath as the Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar. Seven ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party and six the Janata Dal-United one each from the Sahani's VIP and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha took oath as Bihar Cabinet Minister.
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Background
Bihar Govt Formation LIVE UPDATES: A day after being unanimously elected as the leader of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, Janata Dal United (JDU) president Nitish Kumar is all set to take oath as the Chief Minister of the state for a record fourth consecutive term. ALSO READ | After AIMIM's Success In Bihar, Does Mamata Banerjee Need To Fear Owaisi? Know If The Party Can Dent Vote Share
Kumar's name was announced at 1, Anney Marg in Patna, the Chief Ministers official residence, by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who had been sent from Delhi as the "observer" for the BJP, which has returned with the highest number of seats in the NDA in the assembly elections.
Kumar, who met Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan along BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal to stake claim for the formation of a new government, has informed that the swearing in ceremony would take place today between 4 and 4.30 pm.
Around 16 ministers are expected to be sworn-in along with Chief Minister-designate Nitish Kumar in the oath-taking ceremony on Monday, but it was not clear yet if Sushil Kumar Modi will return as Deputy Chief Minister.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Amit Shah is most likely to attended the swearing-in ceremony. Other leaders of BJP and JDU will also grace the event.
While speaking to reporters after his meeting with the Governor, Kumar curtly said that it will be decided in due course as to who all will take oath as members of his new state cabinet.
According to sources, there will be seven ministers each from the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and one each from the Sahani's VIP and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular.
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On Friday, all four alliance partners of NDA in Bihar — BJP, JDU, HAM and VIP — met Nitish Kumar at his residence in Patna for an informal meeting to discuss the future course of action regarding government formation in Bihar.
After the Chief Minister's dilemma being resolved and the post went to Nitish Kumar, all eyes are now are now on who the next deputy Chief Minister be. There has been some speculation whether Sushil Kumar Modi will continue as deputy CM or if the BJP will select a new face.
The suspense intensified after Sushil Kumar Modi had his designation as Deputy CM dropped from his Twitter handle and BJP named Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi as the leaders of legislative party.
The two names kept doing the rounds for the Deputy CMs post though no official confirmation came till late in the evening.
The proposed replacement of Sushil Kumar Modi called "Chhota Modi" in the political circles of Bihar, a jocular reference to the surname he shares with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being viewed as a precursor to the BJPs ambitious plans of aggressively expanding its own base in Bihar, where it has played second fiddle to the JD(U) boss so far.
ALSO READ | Tarkishore Prasad, Renu Devi Elected Leaders Of BJP Legislature Party; Likely To Replace Sushil Modi As Bihar Deputy CMs
Kumar is also understood to have tactically remarked at the NDA meeting that he was in favour of "a BJP CM", but was agreeing to take up the job again "because of the insistence" of the saffron party.
The BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had been emphatically stating that Kumar will be retained as CM even if his JDU's strength in were to shrink in the assembly polls.
There have also been speculations that the BJP, which has 74 MLAs against only 43 of JD(U), was likely to insist on having a greater share in the council of ministers and have one of its members as the Speaker, a post which has been with the Kumar's party ever since he took over a decade and a half ago.
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