Nitish Kumar on Sunday took oath as chief minister of Bihar for the record 9th time in over two decades. In his dramatic fourth switch, he formed the government with foe-turned-friend Bharatiya Janata Party which caused irreparable damage to I.N.D.I.A bloc which was a brainchild of Kumar himself.
Earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar submitted his resignation to Governor Rajendra V Arlekar on Sunday morning. The Governor accepted Kumar's resignation and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed. Kumar was accompanied by senior minister Bijendra Yadav of the JD(U) when he went to the Raj Bhavan. Kumar submitted his resignation after chairing a meeting with party MLAs at his official residence.
According to Nitish, "things were not working well" for him in the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago. He was also not happy with the Congress' laxity on the progress of the newly formed opposition bloc which was a brainchild of Nitish. JD-U claimed that Congress attempted to hijack the initiative which was began by Nitish. The Bihar ruling party also accused the Congress of hatching conspiracy with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee by announcing Mallikarjun Kharge's name for PM post. In the state, Nitish was uncomfortable with Tejashwi as he took credit for creating jobs in the state. Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav was the Deputy CM in the outgoing government and his Singapore-based elder sister Rohini Acharya came out with a flurry of posts on X, lampooning the JD(U) president whom she did not mention by name. The 72-year-old leader indicated that he was not feeling happy with the I.N.D.I.A bloc that he helped take shape but which failed to adequately recognise his efforts.
Tejashwi's elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav was also a cabinet minister. The RJD, despite having the largest number of 79 MLAs in Bihar assembly, including Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, who is the Speaker, did not stake claim. The party seems to have latched on to the opportunity for projecting the image of Tejashwi Yadav. Full page advertisements saying "Dhanyawad (thank you) Tejashwi" were put out in newspapers here by the party which showered encomiums on the 34-year-old leader for having played his role well since becoming the Deputy CM in August 2022.
Nitish made an indirect reference to the deafening silence he had maintained over the political turmoil that had engulfed the state for the past few days, leaving his allies wondering about his current move.
He took the step after a meeting of the JD(U) legislature party, which authorised him to take any decision about the alliance.
Nitish revives his 'Paltu Ram' tag after fourth switch
