Nitish Kumar set for record 10th oath as Bihar CM on Thursday; what to expect

Janata Dal United chief Nitish Kumar is set to take oath as Bihar Chief Minister CM for a record 10th time on Thursday days after the National Democratic Alliance NDA secured a sweeping victory in the assembly electionsPreparations for the swearingin ceremony at Patnarsquos historic Gandhi Maidan are in the final stages with Prime Minister PM Narendra Modi Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several senior NDA leaders expected to attendMultiple pandals have been constructed for VIPs and elaborate security measures have been put in place A senior BJP leader said that over three lakh people are likely to attend the eventKumar tendered his resignation as outgoing CM to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Wednesday He was accompanied by Union Minister Chirag Paswan Rashtriya Lok Morcha RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya news agency PTI reportedState BJP President Dilip Jaiswal told reporters that the governor accepted Kumarrsquos resignation and asked him to continue as caretaker CM until the new government is formedKumar was later elected leader of the NDA Legislature Party at a meeting of newly elected MLAs Senior BJP leader Samrat Choudhary was chosen as the BJP Legislature Party leader while Vijay Kumar Sinha was appointed the deputy leaderKeshav Prasad Maurya who served as BJPrsquos central observer for the leadership election attended the meeting along with Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti who acted as coobservers PTI reportedMeanwhile hectic negotiations continued among NDA partners to finalise cabinet berths The new Bihar Cabinet is expected to include 16 ministers from the BJP and 14 from JDU including Kumar Sources told PTI there is broad agreement among allies to appoint BJPrsquos Prem Kumar as Assembly Speaker with the Deputy Speakerrsquos post likely to go to JDUSources added that the Cabinet may see five to six new faces from both major partners JDU state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha who won from Mahnar is among those likely to be inductedWhile JDU is expected to retain most of its current ministers BJP may introduce a few new faces Smaller allies mdash the LJP Ram Vilas led by Chirag Paswan HAMS led by Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLM led by Upendra Kushwaha mdash will also find representationldquoThe LJP RV is likely to get three berths in the new state cabinet while the HAMS and RLM may get one berth each A maximum of 16 ministers from the BJP and 14 along with CM Nitish Kumar from the JDU will take oath on November 20rdquo a source told PTIAmong the JDU leaders likely to be included in the new Cabinet are Bijendra Prasad Yadav Vijay Kumar Choudhary Shrawan Kumar Sunil Kumar Lesi Singh Sheila Mandal Madan Sahni Ratnesh Sada Mohammad Zama Khan Jayant Raj Umesh Singh Kushwaha and Ashok Chowdhary Other potential inductees include Rahul Kumar Singh Sudhanshu Shekhar Kaladhar Prasad Mandal and Panna Lal Singh PatelBJP sources said most ministers from the outgoing Cabinet are likely to be retained though the party is considering three new names Those expected to continue include Samrat Choudhary Prem Kumar Mangal Pandey Vijay Kumar Sinha Nitish Mishra Renu Devi Jibesh Kumar Neeraj Kumar Singh Janak Ram Hari Sahni Kedar Prasad Gupta Surendra Mehta Santosh Kumar Singh Sunil Kumar and Motil Lal PrasadPotential new BJP faces include former IPS officer Anand Mishra who was elected from Buxar as well as Rana Randhir Gayatri Devi and Vijay Kumar KhemkaldquoWe are aiming for greater representation in the new Cabinetrdquo a JDU leader said The BJP had 15 ministers in the outgoing government while the JDU had 12 including Kumar Smaller allies had one berth eachldquoGiven that our MLA count has risen sharply since 2020 when we had fewer than 50 seats we expect more berths this timerdquo a JDU leader addedThe NDA swept back to power in Bihar winning 202 of the 243 seats The BJP won 89 seats the JDU 85 the LJP RV 19 HAMS five and the RLM fourMeanwhile Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor said his decision not to contest the Bihar elections was a ldquomistakerdquo noting that his party secured less than 4 per cent of the voteIn an interview with NDTV India Kishor said ldquoMy 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 per cent votes in the assembly pollsrdquoHe added that his political efforts would continue ldquoI will not back down without winning Bihar I donrsquot know how much time it will takerdquoWith PTI inputs