Stage set for Nitish Kumar and new Bihar Cabinet’s swearing-in

Historic Gandhi Maidan all decked up, PM Modi, top NDA leaders to attend

- MPOST BUREAU

The stage is set for the Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar, who has been Bihar Chief Minister for a majority of the last two decades, to take oath for a record 10th time on Thursday, six days after the ruling NDA defied anti-incumbency and secured landslide victory in the recently held Assembly elections.

The swearing-in of the 74-year-old leader as Chief Minister is special as he has emerged stronger for the fifth term and the JD(U) bagged 85 seats in the 243-member state Assembly.

Preparations for the swearing-in ceremony at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan are in the final stages, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP chief J P Nadda and several top NDA leaders and chief ministers expected to attend. Several pandals have also been erected to accommodate VIPs.

Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place, and over three lakh people are anticipated at the event, according to BJP sources.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar submitted his resignation as the outgoing CM to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. He was accompanied by Union ministers.

State BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal told reporters that the governor accepted his resignation and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government was formed.