Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar’s chief minister on Thursday with the support of 53 MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He had resigned less than 24 hours ago, on Wednesday evening, after breaking off from the grand alliance. BJP’s Sushil Modi was sworn-in as his deputy.
The 132 legislators supporting Kumar include 71 from Kumar’s JD(U), 53 from the BJP, two each from the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and the Lok Janshakti Party, one from Hindustani Awam Morcha and three Independents.The JD(U) leader had quit as chief minister after citing major dissatisfaction with his former ally, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Meanwhile, RJD leader and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav met the governor late on Wednesday night to lodge their protest against the swearing-in. He said that the RJD should have been invited to form the government as it is the largest party in Bihar. The RJD has 81 legislators in the Assembly. “RJD being the single largest party in the state should be given an opportunity to stake claim to form the government,” said Yadav.
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