Patna (Bihar): Hours after he was sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time, Nitish Kumar had a message for the Narendra Modi government. Without taking names, Nitish said, "Those who came to power in 2014, will they be victorious in 2024?" He however added that he himself was not a "contender for any such post".  


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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.


Talking to reporters shortly after he was administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan, Kumar also rubbished the BJP's claim that the new government will not last its full term, and said his former ally "will be back where they were after the 2015 assembly polls".
Kumar was sworn in besides RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, who is likely to be designated as his deputy. Sources in the seven-party ruling coalition said that a cabinet expansion would take place later.


Leaders of the BJP, which is the second largest party in the assembly with 77 MLAs, were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing-in ceremony that took place inside the Raj Bhavan. Earlier, senior BJP leader and former Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi had claimed that the party, with which Kumar broke his alliance the previous day, had received "no invitation".


Interestingly, this has been the eighth time since Nitish Kumar has taken oath as the Bihar CM. Here are the eight times since the year 2000 that Nitish has taken oath as CM of Bihar:


First time: March 2000
Second time: November 2005
Third time: November 2010
Fourth time: February 2015
Fifth time: November 2015
Sixth time: July 2017
Seventh time: November 2020
Eighth time: August 10, 2022