Nitish Kumar To Take Oath As Bihar CM With BJP Support

Nitish Kumar To Take Oath As Bihar CM With BJP Support
Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar. (Photo: PTI)

Nitish Kumar will take oath as chief minister of Bihar at 10 a.m. today after the Bharatiya Janata Party extended its support to the Janata Dal (United) chief to form the next government in the state.

State BJP chief Nityanand Rai and senior party leader Sushil Kumar Modi drove to Raj Bhavan late this evening and handed the Bihar Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi a letter of support for Kumar.

BJP legislators met at 1, Anne Marg residence of Kumar where lawmakers of the JD(U) were present to discuss their next move. Kumar is hosting a dinner for the legislators of the new coalition.

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar had resigned from his post, citing irreconcilable differences with ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on the issue of corruption charges against his deputy Tejashwi Yadav. This effectively brought to an end the Grand Alliance in Bihar which came to power barely two years ago.

"In the circumstances that prevail in Bihar, it became difficult to run the grand alliance government," Kumar had told reporters outside Raj Bhavan without ruling out taking BJP's support for forming a new government.

His resignation came only days after differences cropped up between JD(U) and RJD as Tejashwi Yadav faced calls for his resignation. The Central Bureau of Investigation recently lodged an FIR against him and his family in connection with the land-for-hotels case.

"I tried to work it out....I did not ask for anybody's resignation...I just asked Tejashwi to explain the charges of corruption," Kumar had said.

If BJP support had not come through, Nitish Kumar's surprise move would have thrown the politics of Bihar into chaos since no party has a majority in the 243-member Assembly. Kumar's JD(U) has 71 seats, while RJD headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, has 80. The BJP has 53.

Kumar, who led the grand alliance that also included the Congress to a stunning victory, was sworn in on November 20 2015.

Modi Congratulates Nitish Kumar For ‘Joining Fight Against Corruption'

Unlock this article for free
Sign up to access exclusive stories, fewer ads, and a personalised experience.
Live TV
Apps
Social
Hello Reader
Sign In / Register
Set as Trusted Source
on Google Search
Add NDTV Profit As Google Preferred Source