Bihar Political Upheaval: Ending the coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar took an oath as Bihar's Chief Minister again on Wednesday. Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader and the majority party in the Mahagathbandhan alliance, was also administered oath by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan, as he became the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar's Chief Minister for the eighth time in a span of 22 years.
Bihar Assembly Equation After 2020 Polls - Stakeholders At Glance
In the closely contested 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance won 125 seats, including 74 for the BJP, 43 for Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), four from the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), and four from the Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular).
With this, the NDA surpassed the necessary 122-majority threshold to establish the government.
On the other side, the RJD and its allies had secured 110 seats. With 75 seats, the RJD emerged as the single-largest party, while the Congress only managed to get 19 seats. The CPI (ML-Liberation) won 12 of the 29 seats that the Left parties had contested, giving them a total of 16 victories.
In the state's Seemanchal area, Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM has won five seats. However, four of its MLAs have switched to the RJD.
The following is a ranking of the parties in the Bihar House of 242, which is down from the total of 243 due to the passing of one RJD MLA: Congress (19), CPI(M-L) (12), CPI (4), AIMIM (1), BJP (77), JD(U) (45), HAM(S) (4), RJD (79), Independent (1).
Nitish Kumar's Flip Flop
In 1989, Nitish Kumar backed Janata Dal and Lalu Prasad Yadav for opposition leader in the Bihar Assembly. In 1994, he co-founded the Samata Party with George Fernandes. He joined the BJP in 1996 and was appointed to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as a minister.
Nitish had just been the state's chief minister for a little more than seven days in March 2000, but he quit after taking the oath since the NDA and allies held 151 seats. RJD, on the other side, had 159, therefore both fell shy of the necessary 163 seats.
The Samata Party and Sharad Yadav's Janata Dal merged in 2003, although their partnership with the BJP persisted. The Janata Dal (United) was founded in the same year.
As a member of the NDA in 2005, JD(U) returned to power in an alliance with the BJP.
In 2010, Nitish's party and the BJP joined forces to regain power, and he once more assumed the position of Chief Minister.
After 17 years, the JDU leader severed relations with the BJP in 2013. With the help of Congress, he later prevailed in a trust vote; nonetheless, he resigned in 2014. However, with backing from the RJD and the Congress, Kumar returned to his position as a chief minister within a year.
In 2017, the Grand Alliance of the JD(U), Congress, and RJD won the state assembly elections. However, the coalition disintegrated in barely two years because Tejashwi Yadav, a deputy chief minister, was named in a money laundering investigation.
After breaking from the partnership and stepping down as chief minister, Nitish quickly won the backing of the BJP and returned to power.
Kumar took the oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the seventh time in 2020, with the backing of the BJP.