Patna: JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar on Thursday took the oath as Bihar chief minister for a record 10th term time at the historic Gandhi Maidan in the state capital.
As many as 14 from BJP including Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha also took the oath among 26 ministers in the cabinet. Eight from JD (U), two from LJP (RV) and one each from HAM and RLM were also sworn in as ministers. While Choudhary and Sinha are expected to be deputy chief ministers, the portfolios would be allotted later.
A galaxy of top-notch NDA leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda graced the occasion. Chief ministers from Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi Rekha Gupta, Haryana Nayab Singh Saini, Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio also participated in the swearing-in ceremony.
While Rajput caste got maximum four ministerial berths, two each from Kurmi, Koeri, Bhumihar, Yadav, Nishad, and Dusadh, one each, Brahmin, Ravidas, Musahar, Pasi, Kalwar, Kayastha, Sudi, Dhanuk, Teli and Kanu one each also became ministers. Five from Dalit community as a whole were made ministers. Besides two from Dushad, one each from Musahar, Ravidas and Pasi from Dalit community were also made ministers.
BJP accepted Nitish as chief minister of the NDA government for the second successive time when his party, JD (U)`s seat tally, is less than that of the former's. Nitish became the chief minister after the last assembly election even when JD (U)`s seat tally was 43 against BJP`s 74. In the present assembly, BJP`s seat tally is 79 (single largest party) against JD (U)’s 86. It is the first time that union minister Chirag Paswan`s LJP (RV) and former union minister Upendra Kushwaha`s RLM have joined the government.
Bihar is the only state in the Hindi-speaking belt where BJP has not formed the government on its own, as Nitish continued to maintain his political and electoral relevance at 74, leaving no option for BJP other than accepting him as CM willingly or unwillingly.
From BJP quota, Dilip Jaiswal, Mangal Pandey, Ram Kripal Yadav, Sanjay Singh Tiger, Nitin Nabin, Arun Shankar Prasad, Surendra Mehta, Narayan Prasad, Rama Nishad, Lakhendra Roshan, Shreyashi Singh and Pramod Kumar took oath as ministers, From the JD (U) quota, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shravan Kumar, Ashok Chaudhary, Mohammad Zama Khan, Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni and Sunil Kumar (JDU) were sworn in as ministers. From LJP (RV), Sanjay Kumar and Sanjay Kumar Singh took oath as ministers while Deepak Prakash (RLM) and Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM) also became ministers.
