Updated
Patna, Nov 20 (PTI): Nitish Kumar today took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for a third straight term at the head of a 29-member Cabinet, including Lalu Prasad's son Tejaswi as Deputy CM, in the presence of predominantly non-BJP leaders that could indicate possible future alignments.
Tej Pratap, Prasad's another victorious son in the elections, was among those who were sworn in by Governor Ram Nath Kovind at a grand function in the Gandhi Maidan in which 12 ministers each from JD(U) and RJD and four from Congress were inducted. Both the sons of the RJD leader are first-time MLAs.
While Kumar retained Home, Information and Publicity and General Administration departments with him, he gave Road Construction and Buildings Construction portfolio to 26-year- old Tejaswi, his Deputy CM. Tej Pratap has been given Health.
Senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui has been entrusted with the Finance portfolio.
In an indication of his place in the order of pecking, Tejaswi followed the chief minister in oath taking as his parents Lalu and Rabri Devi, both former chief ministers, watched amidst full-throated cheers from the RJD activists in the gathering.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, whose party was also a major beneficiary of the grand alliance, Minister H D West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, National Conference leaders and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar and AIUDF leader from Assam Badaruddin Ajmal were among those present at the ceremony.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was deputed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also present.
A number of Congress chief ministers including Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), Oommen Chandy (Kerala), Tarun Gogoi (Assam) and Siddaramiah (Karnataka) (CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja, DMK's M K Stalin and T R Baalu also attended the event.
Some allies of BJP Akali Dal Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal (Akali Dal) and Ram Das Kadam and Subhash Desai (Shiv Sena) were also present.
Tej Pratap was the third personality to take oath in the ceremony where NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, JMM leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Party, also a former CM were present.
Gandhi reached the venue only at the fag end of the ceremony due to late arrival from Delhi. Venkaiah Naidu sat beside RJD President Lalu Prasad and was seen talking to him from time to time. Leaders from Indian National Lok Dal, INLD and AGP attended the event.
Though Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his CM son Akhilesh Yadav were invited, SP MP Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, who is also son-in-law of Lalu Prasad, was there.
Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury shared the stage as did Kejriwal and former chief minister Sheila Dixit and Gogoi and AGP leader Prafulla Mahanta.
Rahul Gandhi shook hands and hugged RJD chief Lalu Prasad amid cheers by the crowd.
Nitish Kumar's son Nishant and elder brother Satish were present on the occasion.
Lalu Prasad's entire family including wife Rabri Devi and seven daughters along with sons-in-law sat in THE VVIP area and were seen cheering Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav in particular.
Ministers from RJD who took oath are Tejaswi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Alok Kumar Mehta, Chandrika Rai, Ram Vichar Rai, Shiv Chandra Ram, Abdul Gafoor, Chandrasekhar, Munneshwar Chaudhary, Anita Devi and Vijay Prakash.
Those from JD(U) are Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Shrawan Kumar, Jay Kumar Singh, Krishnandan Prasad Varma, Maheshwar Hazari, Shailesh Kumar, Manju Varma, Santosh Kumar Nirala, Khursheed alias Firoz Ahmad, Madan Sahni and Kapildeo Kamat apart from Nitish Kumar.
Congress is represented in the cabinet by Ashok Choudhary, Awdesh Kumar Singh, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Madan Mohan Jha.
Two women, one each from JD(U) and RJD Manju Varma and Anita Devi respectively, got place in the new Bihar cabinet.
Seven more could be accommodated in the Cabinet as under the constitutional provision a maximum of 15 per cent ministers of the total strength of the house is allowed.
Senior Grand Allaince leaders said the coalition government has arrived at a formula of one minister for every 5 MLAs. According to this formula RJD's share is 16, JD(U)'s 14 and Congress 5 besides CM.
RJD had won 80 seats, JD(U) 71 and Congress 27 out of a total of 178 seats of alliance in the 243-member house.
JD(U) saw eight new faces in the ministry. Only Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Shrawan Kumar and Jay Kumar Singh were members of the outgoing cabinet.
Many prominent faces of the previous ministries like Shyam Rajak, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Leshi Singh and Ranju Geeta could not find berth in the cabinet this time.
Congress state president Ashok Choudhary could not take oath when his name was called as he had gone to receive Rahul Gandhi. He took oath at the end after Gandhi had arrived.
Earlier Report
Over 2 lakh people, 8 CMs to attend Nitish's swearing-in
Patna, Nov 20, (IANS) : A staggering 200,000 people, including nine chief ministers and a galaxy of national leaders ranged against the BJP, will attend on Friday the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar as Bihar's chief minister for a fifth term in office here.
Unprecedented security cover has been put in place in Bihar capital for the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar, who will head the first JD-U-RJD-Congress coalition to rule Bihar.
An estimated two lakh people, mostly workers, supporters and leaders of the Grand Alliance parties Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress are expected throng at the historic Gandhi Maidan to witness the event, police said.
Bihar Police chief P.K. Thakur told the media that security cover is unprecedented in view of a number of political leaders across the country attending the function. "We are taking no chances due to threat perception to several leaders."
According to police officials, many leaders having Z plus and Z cover security are attending the oath-taking ceremony, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Besides the elite security agencies like Special Protection Group (SPG), personnel of central para-military security forces and state police have been deployed.
"More than 3,000 additional security personnel including 30 DSPs and SP rank officers have been deployed in Gandhi Maidan to manage the two lakh crowd expected to gather here for the show," Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Vikas Vaibhav said.
He said 20 watch towers have been set up and 40 CCTV cameras installed in and around the venue.
Patna Divisional Commissioner Anand Kishore said two huge canopy shaped daises (70x40 feet) are ready for top leaders. "Only Chief Minister designate Nitish Kumar, his new cabinet colleagues and VVIPs would be accommodated on the main dais."
According to him, there is a separate gallery dais for others.
A senior police official told IANS that a team of intelligence officials and SPG personnel has been deployed to keep a close watch during the function. "Bomb detection and disposal squads along with dog squads are carrying regular checks of the site."
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi declining to attend the event, he and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which badly lost the Bihar assembly polls, would be represented by party leaders and central ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
The ceremony will be attended by nine chief ministers, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and leaders of several other political parties.
The chief ministers are Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Tarun Gogoi (Assam), P.K. Chamling (Sikkim), O. Ibobi Singh (Manipur), Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh), Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), and S. Siddaramaiah (Karnataka).
Other political veterans expected to join in include CPI-M general secreatry Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D. Raja, Indian National Lok Dal's Abhay Chautala, DMK's M.K. Stalin and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.
There will also be former chief ministers Omar Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir), Sheila Dikshit (Delhi), Bhupinder Hooda (Haryana), Shankarsinh Vaghela (Gujarat), Babulal Marandi and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) and Ajit Jogi (Chhattisgarh).
The Grand Alliance of Nitish Kumar swept 178 of the 243 Bihar assembly seats, leaving 53 to the BJP and five to its three allies in an election outcome that Lalu Prasad said would have major political repercussion.
According to JD-U leaders, Nitish Kumar will take oath at the head of a 36-member council of ministers.
The RJD is the single largest party in the house with 80 seats followed by the JD-U (71) and the Congress (27 seats). There will be 16 RJD ministers, 15 from the JD-U and five from the Congress in the government. Lalu Prasad's younger son Tejaswi Yadav is expected to get a plum post.
Supporters of the JD-U, RJD and Congress from across Bihar are pouring in at the Gandhi Maidan. Hundreds of security personnel are geared to protect the venue and the VVIPs.
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.
"Such a thing has never happened. It is the beginning of opposition unity in the country," he said.
Friday's gathering would be the first major show of anti-BJP unity since Modi became the prime minister in May 2014.
Also expected to attend the event are B.R. Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar and Supreme court lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who along with Mamata Banerjee and Kejriwal repeatedly urged voters in Bihar to defeat the BJP.
Nitish Kumar personally telephoned and invited Modi to the swearing-in ceremony but the prime minister expressed his inability to attend because of his previous engagements, officials said.
Earlier, Nitish Kumar invited BJP veteran L.K. Advani and estranged BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha to the event.
Lalu Prasad and JD-U president Sharad Yadav will be the main guests at the event.
Nitish turns oath ceremony into anti-BJP convention
New Delhi, Nov 20 (DHNS): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has turned his oath-taking ceremony into a national convention of anti-BJP forces.
Though the gathering is not homogenous and unlikely to become a precursor of an anti-Modi grand alliance at national level, it will certainly open up possibilities of new alliances in states and some understanding at the national level.
“This would be a grand event. Ten chief ministers, national leaders like Rahul Gandhi, H D Deve Gowda, Sharad Pawar and Prakash Ambedkar, all are participating. “All the Congress-ruled state chief ministers will attend the event. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are also participating,” JD(U) General Secretary Arun Shrivastav told Deccan Herald.
The guest list of Nitish shows his first priority — that the event should embarrass BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has invited all those who are opposed to them. Two Shiv Sena ministers, Ramdas Kadam and Susbhash Desai are prominent names as far as this angle is concerned. Apart from causing embarrassment to the BJP, Nitish and Lalu carefully decided the guests list keeping in view their social and regional importance.
If the list includes regional leaders like JD(S) leader Deve Gowda, DMK’s MK Stalin, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and Ajit Jogi (Chhattisgarh) and Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand), it also balances social equations. The Mahagathbandhan has invited AIUDF leader of Asam Badruddin Ajmal and Dalit leader of Maharashtra Prakash Ambedkar.
Two top Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja are attending the meeting. This shows that national level anti-BJP alliances, which Lalu and Nitish are contemplating, should have broad political base.