Former chief minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar took oath as the state’s CM for the fifth time, at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan. Ceremony was witnessed by opposition leaders from across the country.
Nitish Kumar was administered the oath of office and secrecy at the Raj Bhawan in Patna by governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.
Show of anti BJP unity
The ceremony was referred as Largest show of anti-BJP unity after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. In a major show of strength by anti-BJP parties, the event was attended by a galaxy of opposition leaders from across the country.
Prominent personalities who attended ceremony
- Former Prime minister HD Deve Gowda and a number of chief ministers
- Rahul Gandhi
- Arvind Kejriwal
- Mamata Banerjee
- Tarun Gogoi
- Virbhadra Singh
- Several party chiefs and senior leaders.
Representation from BJP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had led the Bihar campaign from the front, was represented on the dais by Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu
Lalu Prasad’s son became Deputy CM
RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav took the oath immediately after Nitish, being allotted the portfolio of road construction and later designated as deputy chief minister. He is the youngest ever deputy CM in the country at the age of 26.
Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap was allotted the health department.
The new ministry has 20 first-timers with Nitish retaining only four — Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Jay Kumar Singh and Shravan Kumar — from his previous stint
Background of Nitesh Kumar in Bihar’s Politics
- 63-year-old Kumar is back in the chief minister’s chair after he had quit on May 17, 2014 over JD(U)’s debacle in the general election.
- During his earlier stint as chief minister, Kumar had initiated a series of reforms and stressed on increasing enrolment of students, building roads and bridges and improving healthcare facilities.
- Nitish had broken his 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in 2013 after Modi was declared his party’s prime ministerial candidate in the run-up to the national elections.
