Nitish Kumar likely to take oath as JDU-BJP alliance's Bihar CM on Jan 28

JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar is likely to take oath as chief minister of Bihar on Sunday (January 28) with the foe-turned-friend BJP’s backing after ditching allies the Congress and RJD.

For again propping up Nitish, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will this time get the posts of two deputy chief ministers, an NDTV report said on Friday (January 26).

INDIA alliance

Nitish’s political U-turn, if it goes ahead, will effectively kill the Opposition INDIA alliance as he birthed the idea to glue Opposition parties in a bid to unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The report said the Janata Dal (United) leader had axed all his engagements for Sunday when he is set to address a public meeting on the occasion of Maharana Jayanti.

Nitish had shifted to the BJP camp in 2017 and then rejected the party in 2022.

Cabinet reshuffle

Nitish’s Cabinet will be reshuffled after his swearing-in, the report said.

But the re-forged bonhomie could lead to a reduction in the number of seats the JD(U) will contest this year in alliance with the BJP, from 17 in 2019 to 12-15 seats this time.

Nitish Kumar expected re-alignment gained currency after his former deputy and BJP veteran Sushil Kumar Modi remarked that the doors are not permanently closed in politics.

Snubbing Rahul

On his part, Nitish first snubbed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's invite to join his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.

He also thanked PM Modi after his government announced a Bharat Ratna for veteran socialist leader Karpoori Thakur. He also spoke about “dynasty politics”, which his supporters said was a veiled attack on his allies the Congress and RJD.