Didn't want to be CM in 2020: Nitish Kumar makes BIG claim against BJP after taking oath

Nitish Kumar had ended his alliance with the BJP on Aug 9 and revived the 'Mahagathbandhan' between JD(U) and Tejashvi Yadav's RJD.

Pic Credit: File Photo

New Delhi: Nitish Kumar took the oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the 8th time on Aug 10 after breaking his alliance with the BJP on Aug 9. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav took charge of the post of Deputy CM. At the oath-taking cermeony, Nitish launched an attack at the BJP and claimed that he didn't want to be the CM in the year 2020 and that he was pressurised to do so. 

Nitish Kumar was on Wednesday sworn in for the eighth time and asserted that the NDA government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to "worry" about its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Kumar had on Tuesday quit the BJP, stripping the party of power, before resigning and staking claim to form a new government, armed with the support of the “Mahagathbandhan” (Grand Alliance).

The 71-year-old JD(U) leader first took oath as chief minister in 2000, when he headed an NDA government that lasted only a week. He was back in 2005, this time with his coalition had won an absolute majority in the assembly polls. 

The NDA won a landslide victory under his leadership in the assembly polls five years later. Kumar stepped down in 2014, owning moral responsibility for the drubbing of JD(U) in the Lok Sabha polls, but returned less than a year later when he was sworn in for the fourth time.

In 2015, Kumar was back as CM, with the Grand Alliance then comprising the JD(U), RJD and Congress winning a comfortable majority. He resigned in July 2017, citing irreconcilable differences with the RJD, and got sworn in again less than 24 hours later, when he formed a new government with the BJP.

Kumar was sworn in for the seventh time in November 2020, when the NDA retained power, though his own party saw a major fall in its tally for which it blamed a “conspiracy” by the BJP.

(With agency inputs)