Nitish Holds First Cabinet Meeting In Bihar After Switching Side To Form JDU-BJP Govt

The newly-formed Bihar government held its first cabinet meeting on Monday. Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha, the two deputies of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, attended the meeting at the state's secretariat

In a dramatic turn of events in Bihar politics, Nitish broke away from the 'Mahagathbandhan' and JDU president Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record ninth time on Sunday. He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan.

Along with Kumar, BJP leaders Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary took oath as ministers in the Kumar-led government.

After ending the alliance led by the RJD, Kumar said that "things were not working well" for him in the 'Mahagathbandhan' and in the opposition bloc INDIA, and staked claim to form a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago.

Kumar has also claimed that there was no question of leaving the NDA-fold. "I was with them (NDA) earlier, too. We went on different paths, but now we are together and will remain so. I came back to where I was (NDA), and now there is no question of going anywhere else," the 72-year-old leader added.

Following this development, the NDA in Bihar now has 128 MLAs, surpassing the majority mark by six. Meanwhile, the Mahagathbandhan, consisting of the RJD, Congress, and Left parties, holds a total of 114 MLAs. In the 243-seat Bihar assembly, the RJD stands as the largest single party with 79 MLAs, followed by the BJP with 78, JD(U) with 45, and Congress with 19.

The Left parties have 16 MLAs, while HAM and AIMIM have four and one, respectively. Also, there is one independent MLA in the House.

The portfolio allocations are expected to be completed in the next two days. On the other hand, CM Kumar, along with the JD(U) chief, has convened a meeting with all his MPs in Patna, scheduled to take place at 12 pm.

Meanwhile, the Bihar BJP leaders have given a no-confidence motion notice to the assembly secretary to remove Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary, who is from the RJD.