Bihar, 15th November: Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar will take oath as Bihar Chief Minister for a record fourth consecutive term on Monday. Nitish Kumar was formally elected leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at a meeting of NDA MLAs at his official residence in Patna.
An announcement to the effect was made at 1, Anney Marg, the Chief Ministers official residence, by senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who had flown down for the occasion.
According to sources, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has been chosen the leader of the legislature party and is likely to return as Deputy CM while Tarkishore Prasad, the MLA from Katihar, has been elected as the party’s leader in the state assembly.
Before the start of the NDA meeting, Nitish was elected leader of the JD (U) legislative party by his party legislators.
The JD (U) had received only 43 seats following the counting of votes on November 10, but the BJP’s tally of 74 pushed the NDA beyond the majority mark of 122.
The party to emerge as the single-largest was the RJD with 75 seats but an underwhelming performance by Congress, at just 19 seats, meaning the Mahagathbandhan fell short of the half-way mark in the 243-member assembly. Both RJD and Congress on Sunday questioned the NDA’s decision to make Nitish the CM again despite him not getting the mandate.
The BJP, the main constituent of the NDA had said before the elections that the JD-U president would remain the chief ministerial choice irrespective of which party gets more seats.
