Congratulating the new Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Council of Ministers on taking oath today, Afzal said that whatever has been promised in the Common Programme in Bihar, “we will do all efforts to deliver it on ground”.
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The Nitish Kumar ministry will have 12 ministers from JD(U) with many new faces while Lalu Prasad’s both sons – Tejaswi and Tej Pratap- will be among the ministers from RJD.
It was also attended by representatives of the Shiv Sena, which governs Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP, and National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah.
JD-U state president Vashisht Narain Singh told the media that it was the first time such a large number of top politicians would attend the oath-taking of Nitish Kumar. Lalu Prasad’s younger son Tejaswi Yadav is expected to get a plum post.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu who also arrived here for the ceremony extended the support of the government for Bihar’s development.
From JD (U) party – Nitish Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Lallan Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar, Jay Kumar Singh, Maheshwar Hazari, Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, Santosh Nirala Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmad Shailesh Kumar, Kumari Manju Varma, Madan Sahni, Kapildeo Kamat.
It is the fifth time engineer-turned-politician Nitish Kumar was sworn-in as the chief minister. There would be a separate gallery for women who would be coming to attend the ceremony, he said. The Bihar elections, which leaders used to claim would change the course of national politics, promise to present a mega picture of opposition unity ahead of the crucial Winter Session of the Parliament later this month.
Among Congress leaders, party’s state president and MLC Ashok Chaudhary and newly elected MLA Abdul Jalil Mastan are prominent names for ministerial berth.
The Grand Alliance has a total of 178 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly, with RJD winning 80 seats, JD(U) and the Congress 27.
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Nitish Kumar also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the swearing-in ceremony.
