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Nitish Kumar sworn in as Bihar CM: As it happened
Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar chief minister shortly after 2:00 pm.
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In line with expectations, Lalu Prasad Yadav's 26-year-old son Tejashwi Yadav has been appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
Also Read: It's official: Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav is Bihar's new Deputy Chief Minister
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who was to attend Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony, is still en route. His flight to Patna got delayed by over an hour.
Ram Vichar Rai, Shiv Chandra Ram, Shailesh Kumar, Manju Verma and Santosh Nirala have also been administered oath.
Among other MLAs who have taken oath include Rajeev Ranjan Singh, Shravan Kumar, Chandrika Rai, Avdhesh Singh, Lallan Singh, Ashok Chaudhary, Krishna Nandan Verma, Maheshwar Hazari and Abdul Jalil Mastan.
Alok Kumar Mehta is the next in line to take oath as minister.
Tej Pratap Yadav, Lalu's son, is administered oath by the Governor. He is asked to take oath again after he misreads the word 'apekshit' as 'upekshit'.
Lalu Prasad's son Tejaswi Prasad Yadav is next in taking oath. This indicates Tejaswi is likely to be number two in the Nitish Cabinet and could be made deputy chief minister as being speculated.
Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind​ has administered oath of office and secrecy to Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar is now taking oath of office and secrecy.
This happened a shortwhile ago:
A host of political leaders have arrived at the venue for Nitish Cabinet's oath-taking ceremony. Present on the stage are Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, former PM and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee etc.Â
Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony as Bihar CM will begin shortly at Patna's Gandhi Maidan.
Nitish Kumar reaches Gandhi Maidan in Patna for his swearing-in as Bihar chief minister. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is already at the venue.
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah says Nitish Kumar should now prepare to move to Delhi and become prime minister.
PTIÂ is reporting that the Nitish Kumar government will have 12 ministers from JD(U), among them many new faces. Â Lalu Prasad's sons -- Tejaswi and Tej Pratap -- are sure to get ministerial berths.
As per highly placed sources, the list of ministers has already reached Governor Ram Nath Kovind.
From JD(U) new faces in the Cabinet may include Manju Varma, Madan Sahni, Shailesh Kumar and Kapildeo Kamat. Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan and Jay Kumar Singh, all members of the outgoing cabinet, will also find a place in the new ministry.
From RJD's quota of 12 ministers, names of Tejaswi Yadav, his brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Abdul Gafoor, Vijay Prakash, Chandrika Rai, Mundrika Singh Yadav, Santosh Nirala, Ram Vichar Rai and Sheo Chander Ram have been confirmed.
From Congress, state party chief Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Awdesh Kumar Singh will be sworn in.
RJD had won 80 seats in the Bihar elections followed by JD(U) (71) and Congress (27) totalling 178 in the 243-member Legislative Assembly.
Meanwhile, Delhi-Patna flight carrying Bihar Congress MLAs has been diverted to Ranchi due to fog. Congress MLA Abdul Mastan, who has to take oath, is in the flight.
Lalu Pradad Yadav's sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi are expected to join the Nitish Kumar government. Tejaswi, a 26-year-old first time MLA, is in fact tipped to become the deputy chief minister.
Also Read:Â Stage set for Nitish's swearing-in; Lalu's son Tejashwi to be deputy CM?
From Left, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury will attend the event. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik is also coming.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, along with his father Farooq Abdullah, will be present at Patna's Gandhi Maidan.
Shiv Sena is sending two Maharashtra ministers to grace the occasion.
Also Read:Â Nitish Kumar's oath ceremony - Who's who to attend; here is the list of guests
Many Congress chief ministers are also expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Rajiv Pratap Rudy will represent the Central government at the ceremony. Nitish had earlier invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his swearing-in.
Also Read:Â After Modi, now Shatrughan Sinha says no to Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Nitish Kumar as Bihar CM.
Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao says Jungle Raj was over when Nitish Kumar came to power. "Hope he'll give better government... people have confidence in him," Rao adds.
Congress MLAs who will take oath as ministers in Bihar government include Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Awadhesh Singh and Abdul Mastan.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will not attend Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony to be held in Patna today. He is busy with official engagements.
Also Read:Â 'Busy' Akhilesh Yadav won't attend Nitish Kumar's oath-taking ceremony
Nitish Kumar's oath-taking ceremony will be held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna at 2 pm today.
Patna: Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar was once again sworn in as chief minister of Bihar on Friday. The swearing-in ceremony was held at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan.
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