Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar

The grand alliance government of Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal (United)-Congress was sworn in at a mega ceremony attended by several top leaders from non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties.

The chief minister will look after home, general administration and information and public relations, highly placed sources in the Raj Bhawan said, adding that the list has been approved by the Governor Ram Nath Kovind.

Kumar, 64, took the oath of office at a swearing-in ceremony in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan 12 days after the results of the October-November state assembly election were declared.

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. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu represented the Central government in his swearing-in.

A number of Congress CMs, including Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), Oommen Chandy (Kerala), Tarun Gogoi (Assam) and Siddaramiah (Karnataka), the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s Sudhakar Reddy and D. Raja, DMK’s M.K. Stalin and T.R. Baalu also attended.

According to sources within the party, Rajak, the former Excise and Consumer Protection Minister, was excluded from the new ministry at the behest of none other than the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who has still not forgiven him for changing his loyalty when things were going tough for the Lalu clan in 2005.

Their induction into the council of ministers raised eyebrows as both Yadav brothers are political greenhorns.

Prasad’s son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav took the oath immediately after Kumar in a signal that he will be the second most important member of the cabinet. Tej Pratap got Health, Minor Irrigation and Environment & Forests.

The RJD is the single largest party in the house with 80 seats followed by the JD-U (71) and the Congress (27 seats).

Nitish will also hold a review meeting to take stock of the situation of law and order with the District Magistrates and Police Superintendents of the districts via video conferencing.

A few allies of BJP Akali Dal Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal (Akali Dal) and Ram Das Kadam and Subhash Desai (Shiv Sena) were also present. Among 28 ministers, there were only two women with one each coming from RJD and JD(U). He also said that participation in the government was not his priority, the Congress’ main focus should be on how to rebuild the party in Bihar.

Anointment of Mr. Modi as BJP campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls proved the proverbial last straw and Mr. Kumar led his party out of the NDA in June 2013.