Nitish to take oath as Bihar CM today

JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar is set to be sworn-in as Bihar chief minister for a record 10th time on Thursday, days after the NDA secured a landslide victory in the assembly elections.
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, and several top NDA leaders expected to attend.
Apart from the main stage, 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, a senior BJP leader said.
Kumar submitted his resignation as the outgoing CM to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Wednesday.
He was accompanied by Union minister Chirag Paswan, RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha and Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.
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.
Kumar was elected leader of the NDA legislature party following meetings of newly elected MLAs, where senior leader Samrat Choudhary was chosen as the BJP legislature party leader and Vijay Kumar Sinha as the deputy leader.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was appointed as the central observer for the election of the legislature party leader in Bihar by the BJP, was present at the meeting.
Besides, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who were made co-observers for the election process of the legislature party leader, were also present.
Meanwhile, lobbying among NDA allies to finalise cabinet berths continued throughout the day.
The new Bihar Cabinet is expected to include 16 ministers from the BJP and 14 from JD(U), including the party chief.
Sources said consensus has been reached among NDA partners to appoint BJP’s Prem Kumar as the Assembly Speaker. The Deputy Speaker’s post is likely to go to JD(U).
Sources said the new Cabinet will have five to six new faces from the main constituents of the NDA the BJP and the JD(U).