Nitish Kumar to take oath as Bihar CM for eighth time today, Tejashwi Yadav to be deputy
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A day after resigning as the Bihar chief minister to discontinue his coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar will be taking oath as the CM again - for the eighth time in his political career - on August 10.
Tejashwi Yadav will serve as Deputy Chief Minister and take oath along with Mr Kumar. "The BJP betrays all its allies and intimidates others," Yadav said at the news briefing with Nitish Kumar.
Kumar's fresh stint as the chief minister will be based on the support of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and the Left parties. Governor Phagu Chauhan has reportedly given him an appointment at 2 pm for the swearing-in ceremony.
"We have the support of seven parties. The letter of support has been signed by all," Kumar, the de-facto chief of the Janata Dal (United), said, after submitting his resignation to the governor on August 9. A total of 164 MLAs, including a couple of independents, will be supporting the new government.
He said the decision to split from the BJP - for the second time in nine years - was based on the feedback he received yesterday morning at an interaction with his party's legislators.
Nitish Kumar's anger with the BJP breached the danger mark over reports that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was foraging within the JDU for defectors.
Nitish Kumar felt that RCP Singh was part of a second conspiracy by the BJP to attenuate his standing, the first being the BJP's tacit support of another regional leader, Chirag Paswan, to serve as a vote-cutter for Nitish Kumar in the last general election. Chirag Paswan put up his party's candidates against the JDU; it was the BJP who gained. As Nitish Kumar thundered against Chirag Paswan, the BJP refused to criticise him.
Nitish Kumar felt that Amit Shah was attempting a repeat of the Maharashtra model in Bihar and ended the BJP alliance to pre-empt that. Uddhav Thackeray was forced to quit as Chief Minister after Eknath Shinde, a senior leader from his party, the Shiv Sena, instigated a huge revolt in partnership with the BJP. Eknath Shinde was rewarded by the BJP with the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister
