Nitish Kumar likely to be sworn in as Bihar chief minister for 10th time on November 19 or 20

Patna: Putting all speculations to an end, Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Bihar in the next few days. The swearing-in will take place either on Wednesday or Thursday depending on the availability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is likely to attend the oath function after such a massive landslide.

High-level sources in the NDA conceded that the swearing-in will be attended by the PM, besides Home Minister Amit Shah, other Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled States.

“Instead of Raj Bhavan, the swearing-in of Nitish and his ministers is likely to take place at the historic Gandhi Maidan,” said the source, adding that the confabulations are on between the JD (U) and the BJP in New Delhi related to power sharing.

“Senior JD (U) leaders like Sanjay Jha and Lallan Singh have already met Amit Shah in New Delhi on Saturday evening in this regard. Nitish in Patna too is meeting the other NDA allies and giving the final shape to his Cabinet,” the NDA leader added.

Sources in the Chief Minister Office (CMO) here on Sunday said that Nitish has convened a Cabinet meeting on Monday where he will recommend dissolution of the 17th Bihar Vidhan Sabha. Following the Cabinet meeting, he will drive down to Raj Bhawan where will meet Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and submit his resignation as the Bihar CM.

The Election Commission, meanwhile, submitted the papers related to Bihar election to the Governor following which the model code of conduct came to end on Sunday and decks were cleared for constitution of the 18th Bihar Vidhan Sabha. The term of the present House ends on November 22.

NEW CABINET

Meanwhile, the new Cabinet headed by Nitish will include representatives from all the five partners of the NDA – the JD (U), BJP, LJP (R), HAM and the RLM (Rashtriya Lok Morcha).

While the BJP and JD (U) have won 89 and 85 seats respectively, the smaller allies LJP (R), HAM and RLM have won 19, 5 and 4 seats respectively, taking the NDA tally to 202 in the 243-member Assembly.

“There will be one minister for every six MLAs,” said the source. “This essentially means the BJP will have 15 ministers, while the JD (U) 14. Besides, the LJP will have three, HAM and RLM one each,” the senior NDA leader added.