Nitish Kumar took the oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the record ninth time on Sunday, resigning on the same day and breaking ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He returned to the BJP-led NDA, and following this, two of BJP leaders – Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha – also took the oath as deputy chief ministers. The list of ministers who took the oath on Sunday also included members of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM-S) party and an independent MLA.
Nitish Kumar speaks to media after swearing-in as chief minister of Bihar on Sunday.
Nitish Kumar dumped the Mahagathbandhan he had joined less than 18 months ago and dealt a body blow to the opposition bloc INDIA.
The party's political adviser and spokesperson K C Tyagi told reporters in Delhi that the grand alliance government in Bihar is on the verge of collapse, and accused a section of the Congress leadership of repeatedly "insulting" Kumar.
"The INDIA bloc is on the verge of collapse. The alliance of INDIA bloc parties is almost over in Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar," he said.
All major political parties of the state-- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-- continued parleys with their legislators all along Saturday.
Till late evening, hectic parleys went on in JD(U) -- which blamed the Congress for insulting Kumar, in the BJP -- on how to receive Kumar once again, in RJD, the largest party in the legislative assembly -- on how not to yield any ground in any situation that arises in Bihar on Sunday.
The JD (U), which has called a meeting of its legislators on Sunday, held an informal meeting with legislators over tea on Saturday evening.
People familiar with the consultations between the JD(U) and the BJP said the latter proposed the names of Renu Devi and Tarkishore Prasad for the posts of deputy chief minister. Still, Prasad may likely be replaced by Sushil Modi who Kumar prefers.
However, BJP’s other alliance partners, the LJP (Ram Vilas) and HAM-S seem jittery over the developments.
(With inputs from agencies)