Swearing-in at 5 pm today, Nitish to take oath as CM along with deputies Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha

Patna: Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar left the Governor’s House along with MLAs after resigning as Bihar chief minister on Sunday.

Bringing closure to the fast-unravelling political events earlier in the day, Nitish handed his resignation letter to Governor Rajendra Arlekar along with letters of support from the BJP legislators.

Accepting his resignation letter, the Governor requested him to discharge his administrative duties as the caretaker chief minister till the new government takes shape.

It is understood that Nitish will take oath as the CM for the ninth time along with two deputy chief ministers from the BJP at the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday.

The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled to be held at 5 in the evening. The BJP and the JD(U) are keen to avoid a power vacuum in a state notorious for its political realignments.

Meanwhile, BJP national president JP Nadda will arrive in Bihar later in the day and will be received at the airport by Union Minister Nityanand Rai and former state party president and MP Sanjay Jaiswal.

Bihar | Led by the Acting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, leaders of JD(U), BJP, HAM and an Independent MLA met Governor Rajendra Arlekar and staked their claim to form the Government in the state. pic.twitter.com/W2IPYqORe8

— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2024

Amid rumours that Sushil Modi and Renu Kumari were in the running for deputy CMs after the churn at the husting, the BJP’s spokesperson in the state, Sumit Shashank, told ANI on Sunday that Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha will be sworn in as Nitish’s deputies.

Earlier, in his first reaction to the political turmoil after tendering his resignation letter to the Governor, Nitish Kumar said the state of affairs in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) formed one and a half years ago was ‘not good’.

Nitish Kumar, after parting ways with the BJP in 2022, took on the initiative of uniting all opposition forces to jointly take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election.

In 2000, Nitish became CM for the first time after campaigning against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘Jungle Raaj’. Till now, he became Bihar’s CM on eight occasions.

In 2013, Nitish broke ranks with the NDA after a 17-year alliance following the announcement of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

He expressed his displeasure to the BJP over Modi’s selection as the PM face, and after the BJP decided to not change its decision, Kumar left the alliance.

In 2017, Nitish forged a grand alliance with the RJD and Congress and returned as chief minister in 2015.

He walked out of the grand alliance in 2017, accusing the RJD of corruption and choking governance in the state.

In 2022, Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP once again, alleging the BJP was conspiring against him and trying to influence JD-U MLAs to rebel against him.