Nitish Kumar Resigns As Bihar Chief Minister, Paves Way For New NDA Government In State

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday submitted his resignation to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, paving the way for the formation of a new NDA government after the coalition’s sweeping victory in the recently concluded assembly polls.

Kumar’s move came a day after the outgoing cabinet met to authorise him to take the “necessary action” for government formation.

The resignation sets in motion the process for the formation of a new government backed by the NDA, which won a brute majority, bagging more than 200 seats of the 243-strong assembly.

The BJP won the maximum of 89 seats, followed by the JD(U)’s tally of 85, while Union minister Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) bagged 19, and another nine were won by smaller partners HAM and RLM.

Meanwhile, JD(U)

working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, who was back from Delhi after holding parleys with the top BJP leadership over the formation of a new government in the state, called on Nitish Kumar in Patna on Sunday.

Talking to reporters later, he said, “In a few days, the new government will be formed. You will get to know the details in due course. We are committed to fulfilling all the promises that we had made in the NDA’s manifesto.”

News agency PTI quoted a JD(U) leader as saying, “It is almost certain that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly down for the swearing-in ceremony. It will be a grand function, most likely at the historical Gandhi Maidan, which can accommodate a large number of people.”

Notably, Prime Minister Modi had addressed over a dozen rallies during the assembly poll campaign and at his last election meeting, he had promised to “be back for the swearing in of a new NDA government”.

The JD(U) leader also said, “We are looking forward to having a greater representation in the new cabinet, compared with the last one in which our party had only 12 ministers.”

“We want more berths in the cabinet because our tally has risen sharply since 2020, when we had fewer than 50 MLAs,” he added.

Paswan had on Saturday replied in the affirmative whether his party was looking forward to joining the government, though he ducked a query as to whether it was eyeing the deputy chief minister’s post.

In the outgoing government, there were two Deputy Chief Ministers, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both from the BJP.

Another minor partner, HAM, headed by state minister Santosh Kumar Suman, held a meeting of its legislative party where Sikandra MLA Prafull Manjhi was elected the leader.

Meanwhile, the RJD, the principal opposition party, continues to reel from internal turmoil following its electoral defeat.

Rohini Acharya, daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, has levelled emotional accusations against her younger brother Tejashwi Yadav and his close aides, alleging humiliation, personal attacks, and attempts to silence her.

Acharya, who claims she enjoys “full support” of her parents and sisters, squarely blamed younger brother Tejashwi Yadav, her father’s heir apparent, and the latter’s close aides for her humiliation.

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