Nitish sworn in as Bihar CM for record 10th time

Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday sworn in for a record 10th term at a grand ceremony here, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CMs of several NDA-ruled states including Nagaland and senior alliance leaders.
Kumar was administered the oath of office at Gandhi Maidan, where the massive makeshift stage also seated Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, both of whom had arrived in Patna on Wednesday night. “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 wrote on X. Modi, who had told voters during the campaign that he would “return for the swearing-in of an NDA government”, delighted the crowd when he lifted his trademark ‘gamchha’ and swirled it above his head, a gesture that has become a signature of the 75-year-old leader.
Besides Kumar, 26 ministers were sworn in on the occasion — 14 from the BJP, 8 from JDU, LJP(RV) 2, HAM 1 and RLM 1. They included Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both deputy CMs in the previous government, who have been elected as the BJP’s leader and deputy leader, respectively, following the polls.
Leaders of several NDA-ruled states, including TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, and BJP satraps Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) and Rekha Gupta (Delhi) and Neiphiu Rio (Nagaland) had flown down to witness the ceremony.
With a tally of 89, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the Bihar assembly and, predictably, it had the lion’s share of 14 ministers in the newly sworn-in cabinet and eight from the JD(U).