BJP should worry about 2024 polls, says Nitish after taking over as CM
Nitish Kumar has taken oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the eighth time after he announced another ‘Grand Alliance’ with Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other Opposition parties.
Talking to reporters after he was administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan, Nitish Kumar said, “The NDA government at the Centre, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, needs to worry about its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
Tejashwi will be the deputy chief minister and the new cabinet will have representatives from the RJD and Congress besides Janata Dal(U), according to sources.
Also Read:Â Without Nitish and JD(U), BJP has a tough road ahead in Bihar
No invite for BJP for the swearing-in event
Sources in the seven-party ruling coalition said that a cabinet expansion would take place later. Leaders of the BJP, which is the second largest party in the assembly with 77 MLAs, were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing-in ceremony that took place inside the Raj Bhavan.
Earlier, senior BJP leader and former Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi had claimed that the party, with which Kumar broke his alliance the previous day, had received “no invitation”.
RJD will have maximum cabinet slots
The RJD will have the largest number of ministers, in recognition of the fact that it has a higher number of MLAs.
The Left parties are likely to give outside support to the new government “retaining their independent identity”.
JD(U) has 46 MLAS (45 party MLAs and 1 Independent) and the RJD 79 legislators. The Congress, which has 19 while the CPI(ML) has 12 MLAs, CPI 2 and CPI(M) another 2 have also given him letters of support to Nitish. The HAM party which 4 MLAs has also backed Nitish.
The effective strength of the state Assembly is 242 and the magic figure is 122.
