Nitish Kumar To Take Oath As Bihar CM For 8th Time Today, Tejashwi Yadav To Be Deputy

Hours after resigning and being elected as the leader of the 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance), Nitish Kumar visited the Raj Bhavan with RJD leader Tejashwi to stake claim for the top job in the state once again.

JD(U) Chief Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav

Source : ANI

Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time Today while RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) leader Tejashwi Yadav will become the Deputy CM as part of the 'Mahagathbandhan' government after Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP for the second time in eight years before resigning as the CM Tuesday.

Hours after tendering his resignation and being elected as the leader of the 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance), Nitish Kumar visited the Raj Bhavan with Tejashwi to stake claim for the top job in the state once again.

Nitish Kumar said he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to Governor Phagu Chauhan and would form the government with the Grand Alliance, which comprises of seven political parties.

Bihar Political Crisis: Top Developments

• Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav will take oath as Bihar Chief Minister and Deputy CM respectively at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. More ministers will be inducted into the Cabinet at a later stage, PTI reported.
• The new Cabinet will have representatives from the RJD and Congress besides JD(U), PTI reported. The Congress is likely to get four ministerial berths. The Left parties are likely to give outside support to the new government.
• After submitting his resignation, Nitish Kumar said all JD(U) MPs and MLAs were at a consensus that the party should leave the NDA. "After the result of the 2020 Assembly election of Bihar, our party had won only 43 seats and I wasn't ready to become the Chief Minister. When I was ruling in coalition with BJP, its leaders were saying many things which I did not like," IANS quoted Kumar as saying.
• Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP following a meeting of JD(U) leaders and legislators. Kumar said BJP had been trying to weaken his JD(U), first by propping up Chirag Paswan's rebellion and later through the party's former national president RCP Singh.
• RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav praised Nitish Kumar for his "bold decision" to sever ties with the NDA in Bihar, saying the BJP was trying to destroy the JD(U). "History tells that BJP destroys the parties with whom it forms an alliance," the RJD leader said.
• Nitish Kumar spoke to both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and is also learnt to have thanked them for extending support in the formation of the new government.
• BJP accused Nitish Kumar of "insulting and betraying" people's mandate while blaming his prime ministerial ambition for the JD(U)'s decision to walk out of the NDA. Some leaders also called him "Paltu Ram" (one who keeps changing sides).
• LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan slammed Nitish Kumar for "insulting" the people's mandate once again and demanded the imposition of President's Rule in the state followed by fresh elections.
• Nitish Kumar had deserted the NDA for the first time in 2013. In 2017, he ditched his coalition government with the RJD-Congress combine to walk back into the NDA camp.
• As the drama unfolded in Bihar, talks of Nitish Kumar being pitched as prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 elections started doing the rounds in political circles. While TMC refused to comment, NCP and RJD leader Sharad Yadav said Kumar can be seen as prime ministerial challenger to Narendra Modi in 2024.