Nitish Kumar Takes Oath as Bihar CM

Patna, Nov 20 (IANS) Cheered by one lakh supporters and watched by leaders of a dozen parties from across the country, Nitish Kumar on Friday took oath as Bihar's chief minister heading a 28-member ministry of his three-party Grand Alliance that crushed the BJP to storm to power.

Nitish Kumar, 64, dressed in his usual white kurta pyjama, took the oath of office and secrecy in the name of God at the sprawling Gandhi Maidan in the heart of Patna in a first major show of strength by anti-BJP parties since Narendra Modi became the prime minister last year.

It is the fifth time Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister -- and the first time Bihar will have a coalition government of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.

Lalu Prasad, whose RJD is the single largest party in the 243-member house, appeared pleased when his sons, Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, took oath as ministers immediately after Nitish Kumar.

Tej Pratap Yadav was interrupted twice by Governor Ram Nath Kovind after he made a slip in his oath. Tejaswi Yadav, the younger son, is widely seen as a possible deputy chief minister.

Besides Nitish Kumar, 12 legislators each of the RJD and JD-U and four from the Congress were sworn in as ministers. Lalu Prasad's sons earned the maximum applause after the chief minister from the boisterous crowd.

A virtual Who's Who of political parties ranged against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were present in strength at the Gandhi Maidan, with congress vice president Rahul Gandhi making it to the venue only 30 minutes after it began.

Those present included Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), S. Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Tarun Gagoi (Assam), P.K. Chamling (Sikkim), O. Ibobi Singh (Manipur) and Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh).

The other political veterans who attended the event were CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D. Raja, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad, DMK's M.K. Stalin and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Representing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the dais was central minister M. Venkaiah Naidu. Lalu Prasad and JD-U president Sharad Yadav were the chief guests at the function.

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.

Angry over his non-inclusion in the council of ministers, JD-U leader and former minister Shayam Razak did not attend the function.

The Grand Alliance won 178 of the 243 seats in the Bihar assembly. The BJP, which had hoped to oust Nitish Kumar, bagged 53 seats while its three allies together got five seats.

The Bihar battle was the biggest popularity test after the Delhi assembly election of February which the BJP lost badly to the AAP.