Nitish begins fifth term as Bihar’s chief minister

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tejaswi takes oath as a minister during the swearing-in ceremony of the new government at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Friday.

The event was attended by a galaxy of opposition leaders from across the country, including chief ministers of half-a-dozen states and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda. The 26-year-old first time legislator was also sworn as the state’s minister for roads.

He was asked by Governor Ramnath Kovind to repeat his oath after he misspelt a word; he had said “upekshit (neglected)” instead of “apekshit (expectations)”.

Nitish Kumar belongs to the Janata Dal (United) party.

Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap is the new health minister, official sources said. His party is a member of the coalition government that Nitish Kumar will lead.

Kumar ensured two more ministerial berths for his party than the RJD got although the JD(U) won fewer seats.

RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui takes oath as minister in Nitish’s Cabinet.

RJD chief Lalu Yadav with strategist Prashant Kishor at Gandhi Maidan. As per early indications, the virtual number 2 in the last Nitish Kumar ministry, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who was also the water resources minister, could be elected as the speaker of the assembly. President of National Lok Dal Ajit Singh and former Union Minister and NCP leader Praful Patel would also be present on the occasion.

“It’s a new start for India and Nitish should now start making preparations to come to Delhi and become the Prime Minister and we will extend our full support to him for that”, Abdullah told the media here before proceeding to attend Nitish’s swearing in ceremony.

The Grand Alliance of Nitish Kumar swept 178 of the 243 Bihar assembly seats, leaving 53 to the BJP and five to its three allies in an election outcome that Lalu Prasad said would have major political repercussion.

Besides the JD-U, the RJD and Congress which fought the Bihar election together, the other parties at the venue were the Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, CPI-M, Janata Dal-Secular, Nationalist Congress Party, DMK, National Conference, CPI and Sikkim Democratic Front.