The recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections saw the NDA emerge with an absolute majority, winning 125 seats. Within this, the BJP is the largest party with 74 seats, while the JD(U) holds a much smaller 43 seats. While there has been intense speculation that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might not retain his post, the BJP has rubbished all such statements.
Many have however taken the JD(U)'s diminished vote-share as an indication that the party might be relegated to the role of 'younger brother' in the new Cabinet. While the top NDA leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has announced that Nitish Kumar will be the new CM, there is also a buzz that the new Cabinet will have two Deputy Chief Ministers from the BJP, similar to the arrangement in Uttar Pradesh. Ahead of the swearing in, Nitish has also tendered his resgination and is now at the helm as the interim Chief Minister. He is likely to take oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for another term on November 16.
Even as critics and naysayers allege foul play and predict doom for the possible Nitish-led government, the NDA leaders will be meeting on Sunday at around 12:30 pm to choose their leader in Bihar. As per reports, an informal gathering had taken place at Nitish Kumar's house earlier on Friday. A formal meeting of the elected legislators of all the four partners of the NDA will now see the coalition elect their leader, before staking a claim to form the government.
In other related news, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav was recently elected as the leader of the Mahagatbandhan, consisting of the RJD, Congress and Left parties legislators. While the Alliance fell slightly shy of the 122 seat majority mark, the The RJD has emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly, and Tejashwi for his part, won the Raghopur seat by a margin of over 38,000 votes in the result announced late Tuesday night.
