Nitish Kumar set to take oath as Bihar CM; suspense over his deputy continues

NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar was on Sunday elected as the leader of NDA in a meeting of newly elected MLAs at his residence in Patna.

After meeting governor Phagu Chauhan, Kumar staked claim for the formation of the new government in Bihar. The swearing-in ceremony will take place in the afternoon.

Sources told ET that 10 cabinet ministers are also likely to take oath.


Members from all four NDA partners —BJP, JDU, HAM and VIP — are likely to find a place in the new Cabinet.

“I didn’t want to become the CM and expressed that there should be a BJP CM. However, on the request of BJP leaders I have been elected as the leader. We have time till tomorrow morning to send the list of other names to be part of the Cabinet,” Kumar told media persons outside his residence.

However, the suspense over the deputy CM continued.

Earlier in the morning, senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who reached Patna as an observer, said: “This will be decided by leaders and you will get to know when a decision is taken.”

During the BJP legislative meeting in the morning, four-time MLA from Katihar, Sadar Tarkishore Prasad, was elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party and Bettiah MLA Renu Devi was elected as the deputy leader.

Prasad’s name started doing the rounds as the next deputy chief minister after the legislative party meeting.

After congratulating Prasad and Devi, Sushil Kumar Modi, the deputy CM in the outgoing Cabinet, tweeted: “I the last 40 years, BJP and RSS have given me so much that no one else got from the party. Going forward, whatever role I would be given, I will work as a party worker. No one can take away the post of party worker.”

There are three names doing the rounds for the post of deputy CM.

Apart from Prasad and Devi, eighttime Gaya MLA and minister Prem Kumar is also in the race. Prasad belongs to the Kalwar Baniya community, which has a sizable population in the Seemanchal region. Also Kalwars have a good population in the border districts of West Bengal, which the party could be eyeing in the upcoming polls.