Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record 10th time Thursday. The swearing-in ceremony was held at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and several other top leaders of the NDA.
The Chief Ministers of several NDA-ruled states also attended the event.
Kumar is among the 10 longest-serving CMs in the country. At 74, Kumar also achieved another milestone of extending his 19-year stint as CM and breaking into the national top-10 list of longest-serving heads of government.
His frequent switching sides in his political career earned him the nickname ‘Paltu Ram’, whereas he is also called ‘sushashan babu’ for good governance.
On Wednesday, Nitish was unanimously elected leader of the NDA at a meeting of its 202 legislators in the Central Hall of the Assembly. He was felicitated with a huge garland at the meeting where Union Minister and BJP Bihar in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, LJP (RV) chief Chirag Paswan, RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha and HAM (S) patron Jitan Ram Manjhi were also present.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha as the leader and deputy leader of the BJP’s legislature party, respectively.
The NDA stormed back to power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with the Bharatiya Janata Party bagging 89, JD(U) 85, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 19, Hindustani Awam Morcha 5 and Rashtriya Lok Morcha 4.
