After breaking with “Mahagathbandhan,” Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar took the oath of office as Bihar Chief Minister for the ninth time on Sunday at Raj Bhavan. Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha also took the oath of office as deputy chief ministers. People were heard chanting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name and catchphrases as BJP chief JP Nadda arrived.
This was JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar’s second resignation as Bihar’s chief minister in less than eighteen months, coming after days of conjecture. Cut off from the RJD and Congress, Nitish will now be forming a government with the backing of the BJP, and the government’s oath-taking is scheduled for soon.
Nitish Kumar cited the state of affairs being “not right” under the Mahagathbandhan alliance as his reason for quitting. He said that he has been receiving suggestions from everywhere, including his party workers, and he listened to all of them to come to this decision.
“I have resigned as the CM today and have asked the Governor to put an end to this government. Party leaders were giving me advice. I heard what they said and have resigned. The situation was not good. So, we have broken ties,” Nitish Kumar told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan.
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. There are 243 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly, with the RJD having 79, the BJP having 78, the JD(U) having 45, the Congress having 19, the CPI (M-L) having 12, two of the CPI(M) and CPI, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) having four seats, the AIMIM having one, and 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.
In 2000, Nitish became CM for the first time after campaigning against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘Jungle Raaj’. Till now, he has been Bihar’s CM on eight occasions.
In 2013, Nitish broke ranks with the NDA after a 17-year alliance following the announcement of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
After expressing his disapproval of Modi’s choice as the PM face to the BJP, Kumar decided to leave the alliance when the BJP refused to reverse its decision. Nitish rejoined the RJD and Congress in 2015 and formed a grand alliance with them in 2017. In 2017, he left the grand alliance, claiming the RJD was stifling state governance and engaging in corruption. Nitish Kumar severed ties with the BJP once more in 2022, claiming the party was plotting his downfall and attempting to incite JD-U MLAs to rebel against him.
