Nitish Bihar CM again, Lalu's son his deputy

After registering a landslide victory in Bihar polls, Nitish Kumar on Friday took oath as Chief Minister amid the august presence of several non-BJP chief ministers and regional stalwarts. Lalu’s younger son Tejaswi, who was sworn in after Nitish, was later designated as Deputy Chief Minister.

The 28-member ministry has representation of 12 members each from the JD (U) and the RJD, and four from the Congress. The three parties have 71, 80 and 27 MLAs respectively in the new Assembly.

Tejaswi, who made his debut as a legislator from his family bastion Raghopur in Vaishali, was the first to take oath after Nitish, followed by his elder brother Tej Pratap.

Tejaswi, apart from being designated as deputy chief minister, will be handling three portfolios including Road Construction and Building Construction, while his elder brother has been given Health, Minor Irrigation, Forest and Environment Ministry.

Senior-most RJD MLA Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who was also a front-runner for deputy chief minister’s post, has been appointed Finance Minister, a post held by senior BJP leader Sushil Modi when he was Nitish’s deputy.

Keeping in mind the law and order situation in Bihar, Nitish has kept the Home portfolio with him. His close aide Vijay Choudhary was not sworn in as a minister as he is likely to be elected as the Speaker of the new Assembly.

Giving a proper representation to the Muslim and Yadav segments, which stoutly supported the Grand Alliance and played a major role in its victory, Nitish has appointed seven Yadavs and four Muslims, besides giving due weightage to Dalits, Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) and women.

Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary, a Dalit leader, also joined the Nitish Cabinet as Education Minister. Choudhary could not take oath initially as he was at the Patna airport to receive party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, whose flight was delayed.

During the swearing-in function, Nitish Kumar ensured the presence of all those who opposed Narendra Modi.

His guest list included former prime minister Deve Gowda, former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit, Rita Bahuguna, Virbhadra Singh, and Left leaders D Raja and Sitaram Yechury.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, who threw their weight behind Nitish Kumar during campaigning in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, too, graced the occasion.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who arrived late, later went to Sadaquat Ashram, the Congress headquarters, after a gap of five years.

He announced the name of Sadanand Singh, the former Assembly Speaker, as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).