Nitish sworn in as Bihar CM for 10th time; deputy CMs retained

Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for a record 10th time on Thursday at a grand ceremony in Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan, completing an extraordinary political triumph that saw the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) score a landslide victory in the recently concluded elections.

- Arun Kumar

After Kumar, his two deputies Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were sworn in. Twenty-four other ministers - eight from the Janata Dal (United), 14 from the BJP, two from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and one each from the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha - took oath in batches of six.

Nine other cabinet berths will be filled later, bringing the total to the constitutionally mandated limit of 36. The portfolios will be announced on Friday, said a senior JD(U) leader who asked not to be named.

Those present at the function included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda,

Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan, Anupriya Patel, Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai, Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, and the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers from 13 states.

"Congratulations to Shri Nitish Kumar ji on taking oath as Bihar's chief minister. He is an experienced administrator with a proven track record of good governance for many years. My best wishes to him for his tenure ahead," Modi said on X. After the ceremony,Modi also waved the traditional Bihari gamcha.