Nitish Kumar meets JP Nadda after forming government with the NDA
Nitish Kumar is back to where he was in July 2022 - with the BJP. He is still the Chief Minister of Bihar, though he has got two new deputies, both from the BJP, instead of his long-time friend Sushil Kumar Modi, who has moved on as a Rajya Sabha MP after August 2022 when Nitish Kumar ditched the BJP and rejoined the Mahagathbandhan.
After taking oath for the ninth time as Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar told reporters, "We are going to stay together now."
"You all know how I came to this (Mahagathbandhan) alliance and also how I worked to bring together so many parties. But of late things were not working well. It was not going down well with those in my party as well," Nitish Kumar, 72, said.
BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha have been appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers.
"I was with them (NDA) earlier too. We went on different paths, but now we are together and will remain so. Today, eight people have taken oath as ministers; the rest will take oath soon. Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha have been appointed Deputy Chief Ministers," Nitish Kumar told reporters.
When asked about outgoing Deputy Chief Minister and Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav's comment that "JD(U) will be finished in 2024", Nitish Kumar said his party will work for the development and progress of the state.
"... We will keep doing the same, nothing else. Tejashwi was not doing anything. Now I came back to where I was (NDA) and now there is no question of going anywhere else," he added.
Congratulating Nitish Kumar and his two deputies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the newly sworn-in National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar will leave no stone unturned for the state's development and to fulfil people's aspirations.
No leader of Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the single-largest party in the Bihar assembly, was present at the oath-taking ceremony.
Tejashwi Yadav had said the JD(U) will be "destroyed" in the upcoming assembly election. "The game is not over for us. The game has just begun," the young leader said.
Nitish Kumar had indicated he was not happy with the way things were going in the Mahagathbandhan in the state as well as the newly formed Opposition bloc INDIA.