Patna: Samrat Choudhary who was deputy chief minister in the previous Nitish Kumar regime, on Wednesday took oath as Bihar’s 24th chief minister, achieving the distinction of becoming BJP`s first leader to hold the top post in the state.
Two senior JD (U) leaders – Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav – also took oath as ministers in the new cabinet. Both Choudhary and Yadav have been designated as deputy chief ministers. While Chaudhary took oath just after Samrat, Yadav followed him.
Governor Lieutenant General (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain administered the oath of office to them in a simple swearing-in ceremony, held at Lok Bhavan. Samrat`s predecessor, Nitish Kumar, also graced the occasion. Besides him, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, union ministers J P Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Chirag Paswan, and RLM leader Upendra Kushwaha also participated in the swearing in ceremony. Nitish Kumar, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP, relinquished the chief minister’s post on Tuesday. Samrat also held the crucial Home portfolio in the previous Nitish Kumar government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Nitish Kumar, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, and a host of other senior leaders congratulated Samrat on becoming chief minister.
Born on November 16, 1968, in Lakhanpur village in Munger district, Samrat started his political career with RJD. He planned a split in the RJD in 2014, defecting 13 MLAs to form a splinter group. After years in the RJD, he joined the JD (U) in 2014 and served as a minister in the government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi. He was also a founding member of Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha in 2015. Samrat joined BJP in 2017. In March 2023, he was appointed Bihar BJP president, replacing Sanjay Jaiswal. In January 2024, Samrat became the BJP legislative party leader and deputy chief minister. When NDA returned to power in 2025, he once again became deputy chief minister and was also given a crucial home portfolio.
After taking the oath of office, Samrat told newspersons that the development model of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor Nitish Kumar would be advanced. “My government will follow the path laid out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. It should remain clear that Bihar will continue to be governed on the Modi-Nitish model,” he remarked.
"I begin my work starting today (Wednesday) itself. I assure the people of Bihar that the pace of development in the state will be further accelerated," he asserted. He said that coordination between the central and state governments would give fresh momentum to development initiatives, and every effort would be made to live up to the people's expectations.
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Chief minister said that his priorities would include strengthening law and order, creating more employment opportunities, and expanding basic amenities.
He also issued key directions to officials in his first meeting at the Secretariat hours after taking oath. He asked officials to work at double speed to ensure quick resolution of problems faced by the people and also directed them to strictly enforce his zero-tolerance policy towards corruption. He emphasised that there should be no tendency to delay work at any level, starting from the Chief Minister’s office to lower ranks. "Public services at block offices, land offices and police stations must improve, with timely grievance redressal and all departments must work in tandem with discipline and sensitivity to make Bihar a developed and prosperous state," he added.
