Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar CM for the fifth time

Lalu Yadav's son Tejaswi Yadav takes oath as Deputy CM of Bihar

Cheered by over one lakh supporters, JD-U leader Nitish Kumar, who led the Grand Alliance to victory in assembly elections, on Friday took oath as the chief minister of Bihar at the head of a 28-member ministry of his party, RJD and Congress legislators.
 

Governor Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nitish Kumar at the sprawling Gandhi Maidan.

He was followed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad's sons Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.
 

Tejaswi Yadav was sworn in as the Deputy CM of Bihar.

Besides Nitish Kumar, 12 legislators each of the RJD and JD-U and four from the Congress were sworn in as ministers. Lalu Prasad's sons earned the loudest cheers after the chief minister from the boisterous crowd.

 

Before the ceremony, Nitish Kumar was seen greeting Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Sushil Modi.

The ceremony was attended by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their two sons.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, his National Conference counterpart Farooq Abdullah and Congress leaders in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad were also present at the event.

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and working president of National Conference Omar Abdullah, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) President Jitan Ram Manjhi, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh were also present at the event.

Representing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the dais was central minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also attended the event.

Delegations of leaders poured in here and assembled at the venue as Nitish took his oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar.

Congratulating Nitish Kumar, National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah today said the senior Janata Dal (United) leader must now start preparing himself to become the next Prime Minister of India.

"It's a new start for India and Nitish should now start making preparations to come to Delhi and become the Prime Minister and we will extend our full support to him for that," Abdullah told the media here.

 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, JDU leader Sharad Yadav and Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu during the swearing-in ceremony of the new government at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. Photo: PTI