Following the announcement of a “Grand Alliance” with Tejaswi Yadav led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, Janata Dal-United (JD-U)chief Nitish Kumar is likely to take oath as the Chief Minister again on Wednesday.
Tejaswi Yadav is also likely to take oath as the Deputy Chief Minister.
In a joint press conference alongside RJD’s Yadav, Kumar said that seven parties including 164 MLAs along with independent MLA will be part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
Nitish Kumar ended his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance and rejoined with RJD in a major political development in Bihar.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 2 pm at Raj Bhawan, according to a tweet from RJD.
The party wrote on Twitter, “The swearing-in ceremony of Honorable Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be held tomorrow at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan.”
Kumar met with Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan twice in the same day, first to hand his resignation as the NDA chief minister and then again to claim the top seat after being elected as the leader of the RJD –led ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
He said that he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the governor who will decide on the oath-taking. The strength of the Bihar assembly is 242 seats with the majority mark being 122.
This will be the eighth time Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as Chief Minister of the state. Following the developments, BJP hit back at Nitish Kuma and said that he had "disrespected the mandate given by the people of Bihar".
Addressing the media along with Tejaswi Yadav, Kumar said that they had the support of seven parties in the grand alliance.
Yadav launched an attack on the BJP claiming that it did not have an alliance partner across the Hindi heartland. He also accused BJP of trying to destroy parties with whom it forms alliances.
"Across the Hindi heartland, BJP does not have any alliance partner. History shows that the BJP destroys the parties with whom it forms alliances. We did see that happening in Punjab and Maharashtra," Yadav said.
He also referred to the remarks of BJP president JP Nadda.
Referring to BJP President JP Nadda’s remarks, he said, “JP Nadda said they will end regional parties. BJP knows only to intimidate and buy people. All of us wanted the BJP's agenda shouldn't be implemented in Bihar, we all know Laluji stopped the 'Rath' of Advaniji, and we won't relent at any cost.”
It may be noted that Kumar had been a long-time ally to the BJP before breaking ties in 2013 and again joining hands in 2017. He said that decision to break off ties was unanimously taken during the party meeting.
