Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Janta Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar on taking oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the seventh time in two decades.
In a tweet, Modi also assured Nitish Kumar of all possible support from the Centre for the state's welfare. "Congratulations to Nitish Kumar Ji on taking oath as Bihar's CM. I also congratulate all those who took oath as Ministers in the Bihar Government. The NDA family will work together for the progress of Bihar. I assure all possible support from the Centre for the welfare of Bihar," he said.
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.
Meanwhile, the main opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boycotted the swearing-in ceremony stating the mandate was against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In a tweet, the RJD said: "The RJD boycotts swearing-in ceremony. The mandate for change is against the NDA. The mandate has been changed on the state's directions. Ask the unemployed, farmers, contract workers and employed teachers of Bihar what is going on with them. The public is agitated by the fraud of the NDA. We are the public's representatives and stand with them."
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.
