Nitish Kumar to take oath as Bihar CM today, Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy

Patna, Aug 10: Ending the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar is likely to take oath as Bihar's Chief Minister again today while while Tejashwi Yadav would become the deputy CM. If returned to power, this will be the eighth time when Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar.

It will be a simple ceremony to be held inside Raj Bhavan. According to a tweet by Kumars new alliance partner RJD, the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan.

"The swearing-in ceremony of Honorable Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be held tomorrow at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan," the party said in a tweet from its official handle. While the RJD tweet did not mention any names, it is widely expected that Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister while Tejashwi Yadav would become his deputy.

More ministers will be inducted into the cabinet at a later stage, PTI sources in Kumar's JD(U) and Yadav's RJD said. The Left parties are likely to give outside support to the new government "retaining their independent identity".

Kumar ended his alliance with the BJP-led NDA and rejoined hands with RJD on a day of rapidly changing political developments in Bihar. Seven parties including 164 MLAs along with independent MLA in our Mahagathbandhan, said Nitish Kumar at a joint presser with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav after meeting Bihar Governor.

Earlier on 9 August, Kumar, 71, submitted his resignation as the chief minister heading the NDA coalition, said he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to Governor Phagu Chauhan. The effective strength of the state Assembly is 242 and the magic figure is 122.

Meanwhile, LJP leader Chirag Paswan accused Nitish Kumar of "insulting" the people's mandate once again and demanded the imposition of President's Rule in the state followed by fresh elections. Paswan also came out in support of the BJP and said the saffron party had accepted everything that Kumar wanted as chief minister and even compromised on its own policies.