The newly formed Nitish Kumar-led goverment in Bihar held its first cabinet meeting in Patna on Monday. Nitish Kumar, the leader of the JD(U), along with eight ministers—three from each of the BJP and JD-U, one from HAM, and one independent—took an oath of office on Sunday following a stunning about-face that saw them abandon the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc INDIA in favor of forming a new government with the BJP. After severing his connection with “Mahagathbandhan,” Nitish Kumar took the oath of office as Bihar’s chief minister for the ninth time on Sunday at Raj Bhavan.
Alongside Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, took the oath as Deputy Chief Ministers.
Among the ministers sworn in were Prem Kumar (BJP), Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Chowdhary and Shrawan Kumar (JD-U), Santosh Suman (HAM-S and son of Jitan Ram Manjhi) and Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent).
Nitish has maintained the chief minister position despite political upheaval in the state, whether he is leading the Mahagathbandhan or the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He has also made sure that his party has not broken over his frequent shifts in position.
In the Bihar Assembly of 243, the RJD has 79 MLAs; followed by the BJP’s 78; the JD(U)’s 45′ the Congress’s 19, the CPI (M-L)’s 12, two each of the CPI(M) and CPI, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s four seats, and the AIMIM’s one, plus one Independent legislator.
Nitish Kumar, after parting ways with the BJP in 2022, took on the initiative of uniting all opposition forces to jointly take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election.
Nitish made his debut as chief minister in 2000, having run an opposition campaign against the ‘Jungle Raaj’ of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. He has served as Bihar’s chief minister eight times so far. After a 17-year alliance, Nitish parted ways with the NDA in 2013 when Narendra Modi was declared the BJP’s nominee for prime minister.
