Process of government formation to start on November 14: Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Having secured a decisive mandate in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said that the formal process for government formation will start on November 14, when the state Cabinet will meet and recommend the dissolution of the present House.

A legislature party of the grand secular alliance will be held in the afternoon of November 14 to elect a new leader and decide the date and venue for the oath-taking ceremony, Kumar told reporters after emerging from Raj Bhawan, where he had gone to greet Governor Ram Nath Kovind for Diwali.

Kumar said that after Saturday's legislature party meeting, the alliance would formally stake claim to forming the government.

To a question regarding the possibility of an RJD leader becoming Deputy Chief Minister, Kumar was non-committal and said merely that "everything will be told to you in time... why this anxiety before time?"

Speculation is rife in political corridors that somebody from Lalu Prasad's family could be made Deputy CM.

RJD is the biggest partner in the grand secular alliance with 80 out of the cumulative 178 seats the grouping has won in the 243-member House. JD(U) has 71 MLAs and Congress 27.

Saying that the official date for the swearing-in ceremony for the new government would be announced only on November 14, Kumar, however, averred that the media was free to make guesses regarding the date and venue for the said event.

Media reports backed by some senior members of JD(U) have indicated November 20 as the "most likely date" for the oath- taking ceremony at Kumar's favourite venue, Gandhi Maidan.