Nitish Kumar Takes Oath as Bihar CM for Historic 10th Term; Modi, Shah Attend Grand Ceremony

JD(U) president Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar’s Chief Minister for the tenth time on Thursday at a grand ceremony, which saw the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda and the party’s Bihar election in-charge, Dharmendra Pradhan, were also among the leaders who flew in for the event. Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office to Kumar and his 26-member council of ministers.

Kumar had stepped down from the chief minister’s post a day earlier and subsequently approached the Governor to stake claim to form a new government.

“My heartiest congratulations to all the colleagues who took oath as ministers in the Bihar government. This is a splendid team of dedicated leaders, which will take Bihar to new heights. My best wishes to all of them!” Modi wrote on X.

Modi, whose popularity had significantly contributed to the NDA’s sweeping victory in the state elections, delighted the audience by twirling his ‘gamchha’ in his trademark manner near the end of the event.

A massive stage was set up at Gandhi Maidan, attended by several chief ministers from NDA-governed states, including N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam) and Rekha Gupta (Delhi).

Among the key leaders who took the oath were Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, the BJP legislative party’s leader and deputy leader, both of whom served as deputy chief ministers in the previous NDA administration.

Three ministers sworn in are members of the Bihar Legislative Council — JD(U) national general secretary Ashok Choudhary, a close confidant of Kumar; state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal; and Hindustani Awam Morcha leader Santosh Kumar Suman.

Shreyasi Singh, a celebrated shooter who secured a second consecutive win from Jamui, joined the cabinet as a fresh face.