Nitish Kumar on Thursday took oath as the chief minister of Bihar at the Raj Bhawan in Patna. The oath was administered by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.
This is Kumar’s sixth term as chief minister. Kumar unexpectedly resigned on Wednesday, breaking the ‘mahagathbandhan’ after he walked out of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Janata Dal (United) JD(U) alliance and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) receiving full support from Sushil Modi and other BJP leaders.
BJP leader Sushil Modi was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
The ostensible reason for Kumar to quit was his falling out with Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. Yadav is facing corruption charges but had refused to step down despite Kumar’s exhortations.
“In the circumstances that prevail in Bihar, it became difficult to run the grand alliance government,” Kumar said outside Raj Bhavan after submitting his resignation to Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi.
