Bihar’s comeback king: Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar chief minister for a record 10th time

BIHAR , NOV 20 : JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar was sworn in on Thursday as Bihar’s chief minister for a record 10th term, days after the NDA’s sweeping assembly poll victory. Bihar Governor Arif Muhammad Khan administered the oath at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan, which has hosted his inaugurations in 2005, 2010, and 2015.

It is at this venue that Jayaprakash Narayan called for “total revolution” during a speech in 1974.

Senior BJP leaders Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers.

JD(U)’s Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrowan Kumar and Ashok Chowdhary took oath as ministers.

The BJP’s Dilip Jaiswal, Mangal Pandey, Sanjay Singh Tiger, Rama Nishad, Arun Shankar Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav and Nitin Nabin and Surendra Prasad Mehta were also sworn in as ministers.

The JD(U)’s Lesi Singh, Madan Sahni, Sunil Kumar, Mohammad Jama Khan, and Santosh Suman of the HAM(S) also took oath as ministers.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office and secrecy to them.

Nitish Kumar arrived at Gandhi Maidan for the swearing-in ceremony accompanied by senior NDA leaders, including JP Nadda, and Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Devendra Fadnavis, N. Chandrababu Naidu and Bhupendra Patel.

Several other NDA chief ministers were also in attendance, among them Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Ahead of the ceremony, Nitish Kumar on Thursday took to X to share his thoughts, “I, Nitish Kumar, swear by God… This sentence is a symbol of the unwavering faith and self-confidence of crores of Biharis. Today, from the historic Gandhi Maidan, this voice will echo once again, and Bihar will embark on a new journey of development,” he wrote.

He extended his congratulations and best wishes to all Biharis on the occasion, calling it a “historic moment” for the state. Earlier, JD(U) had shared a post stating, “History is about to be made in Bihar. Honorable Nitish Kumar ji will take the oath for the post of Chief Minister, a symbol of Bihar’s development and trust. Bihar will write another new chapter of development; this moment will be a moment of pride for all Biharis. Let us all witness this historic moment.”

Kumar submitted his resignation as the outgoing chief minister to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Wednesday. He was accompanied by Union Minister Chirag Paswan, RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha, and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. State BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal told reporters that the governor accepted the resignation and asked Kumar to continue as caretaker CM until the new government was formed.

Following meetings of newly elected MLAs, Kumar was elected leader of the NDA legislature party. Senior BJP leader Samrat Choudhary was chosen as the party’s legislature leader, with Vijay Kumar Sinha appointed deputy leader. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, appointed as central observer by the BJP for the legislature party election in Bihar, was present at the meeting, alongside Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who were co-observers for the process.

The NDA stormed back to power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly. BJP secured 89 seats, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM 5, and RLM 4.

Meanwhile, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor described his decision not to contest the Bihar polls as a “mistake,” noting that his party received less than 4% of votes. In an interview with NDTV, he said, “My decision not to contest polls can be considered a mistake. We have to do a lot to achieve a satisfactory result. I had never expected that our party would get less than 4% votes in the assembly polls.” Kishor also asserted his commitment to future electoral efforts, stating, “I will not back down without winning Bihar. I don’t know how much time it will take.”

Full list of newly elected MLAs who were sworn in today for new cabinet :

Samrat Choudhary (BJP) ,Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP),Dilip Jaiswal (BJP), Mangal Pandey (BJP) , Ram Kripal ,Yadav (BJP) , Nitin Nabin (BJP) , Sanjay Singh Tiger (BJP) , Arun Shankar Prasad (BJP), Surendra Mehta (BJP) , Narayan Prasad (BJP) ,Rama Nishad (BJP) ,Lakhendra Kumar Roshan (BJP) ,Pramod Kumar (BJP), Sanjay Kumar Singh (BJP), Vijay Kumar Choudhary (JDU) , jendra Prasad Yadav (JDU) ,Shrowan Kumar (JDU), Ashok Chaudhary (JDU), Leshi Singh (JDU),Madan Sahni (JDU) , Sunil Kumar (JDU) ,Mohammad Zama Khan (JDU) , Santosh Suman (HAMS), Deepak Prakash , Sanjay Kumar.

-PTI