Nitish Kumar takes oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar in Patna.
Credit: PTI Photo
Patna: The Janata Dal (United) national president Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the 10th time on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and other senior NDA leaders at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan.
However, Nitish, who is reportedly not in the best of health, stammered three times during his swearing-in, thereby raising many eyebrows.
Though the Governor Arif Mohammad Khan did not insist for a second time oath (due to the folly), the ‘faux pas’ set the rumour mills abuzz with the moot point: how long will Nitish continue as Bihar CM, given his present state of health.
Deputy CMs
Senior BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha will be Nitish’s Deputy, as per the arrangement in the previous government where there were two deputies from the saffron camp. Both were among the 26 Ministers sworn in, besides Nitish.
Last-minute surprise
The mother of all surprises was the induction of Deepak Prakash, son of former Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) president Upendra Kushwah. It was widely speculated that Kushwaha’s wife Snehlata Kushwaha, who won from Sasaram Assembly seat, would be sworn in as a minister.
Notably, Deepak is neither a member of the Legislative Assembly nor Legislative Council. With father a Rajya Sabha member, mother an MLA, and Deepak’s entry, the dynasty charge levelled against the Opposition leaders does not hold good any more.
One too many
But then Deepak was not alone representing the dynasty. Shreyasi Singh of the BJP, who won gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in shooting and has been elected as BJP MLA from Jamui for the second time, was also sworn in as a minister. Her father late -- Digvijay Singh -- was Union Minister of State for External Affairs in the Vajpayee Government, while her mother Putul Kumari, was earlier a Lok Sabha MP from Banka in Bihar.
Among other dynasts to be sworn-in included Rama Nishad (wife of Ajay Nishad, former BJP MP from Muzaffarpur), Santosh Suman, MLC, son of Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Nitin Nabin (son of former BJP MLA Nawal Kishore Sinha).
Senior retained
Among the JD (U) veterans, who retained their ministerial position included Vijay Choudhary, Bijendra Yadav, Shrawan Kumar and Ashok Choudhary. The sole Muslim minister Jama Khan is a JD (U) MLA from Chainpur, bordering Uttar Pradesh.
PM Modi congratulated Nitish through his post on X saying Nitish was an experienced administrator with a proven track record of good governance of many years.
Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav too congratulated Nitish and hoped he, as the CM, will fulfil all the promises made during the elections.