Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Chirag Paswan on Monday "congratulated" Janta Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar on taking oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the seventh time in two decades. However, he also took a jibe at the veteran politician, saying he hopes Nitish Kumar continues to remain an "NDA Chief Minister".
Paswan, whose party had walked out of the NDA in Bihar and ran a fierce campaign against Nitish Kumar, vowing to oust him from power in the state, also congratulated the BJP on "making" him the Chief Minister.
"Congratulations to Nitish Kumar on becoming the Chief Minister again. I hope the government completes its term and you continue to remain an NDA chief minister," Paswan tweeted.
Paswan also said that he was sending a copy of the LJP's manifesto to Nitish Kumar so that he could work on some of the promises made in it. "I am sending you 'Bihar first, Bihari first' vision document, which has been made by 4 lakh people of Bihar so that you can complete any task from this also. Congratulations again to you and to the BJP for making you the chief minister," Paswan tweeted.
Meanwhile, Kumar was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar at a ceremony in Patna which was attended by senior leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda and BJP's Bihar in-charge Devendra Fadnavis.
Nitish Kumar's new deputies - BJP's Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were also sworn in, replacing Sushil Kumar Modi.
Besides, the main opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boycotted the swearing-in ceremony stating the mandate was against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
For the uninitiated, the NDA has secured a 125-seat majority in the 243-seat Bihar Legislative Assembly of which BJP won on 74 seats, JD(U) bagged 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats while the Congress only won 19 of the 70 seats it had contested on.
The LJP, meanwhile, won just one seat in the polls. However, several JD(U) leaders have said that it dented chances of Nitish Kumar's party in over two dozen seats.
(With input from agencies)
