Jitan Ram Manjhi sworn in as Bihar's new Chief Minister Tuesday May 20,2014

Jitan Ram Manjhi was sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar on Tuesday May 20,2014 in Patna.

Besides Manjhi, 17 members of the council of ministers also took the oath of office and secrecy.

Governor D.Y. Patil administered the oath-taking at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhawan, a day after Manjhi was chosen by former chief minister Nitish Kumar as his successor

Jitan Ram Manjhi, the 32nd chief minister of the state, played it safe by retaining all the ministers of the previous Nitish Kumar government, but he gave ministerial berths to two independents - Dular Chandra Goswami and Vinay Bihari - who have been extending support to the JD(U). 

Bihari represents Lauriya constituency in West Champaran district and is a well-known film-maker and composer-lyricist of the Bhojpuri film industry. 

Apart from the two independents, the 15 others who were sworn in include Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Narendra Singh, Brishin Patel, Ramai Ram, Bhim Singh, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Damodar Raut, Shahid Ali Khan, Prashant Kumar Shahi, Shyam Rajak, Nitish Mishra, Awadhesh Kumar Kushwaha, Gautam Singh and Lesi Singh. 

The new Jitan Ram Manjhi government on Tuesday May 20,2014decided to call a special session of Bihar Assembly on Friday May 23,2014 to seek the trust vote on the floor of the House.

New Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Wins Trust Vote Friday May 23,2014

In an assembly with an effective strength of 237, the Manjhi government managed to secure the backing of 145 MLAs. Besides 117 lawmakers belonging to his party, the Janata Dal (United), 21 MLAs from Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, or RJD, four of the Congress, one of the CPI and two Independents voted in favour of the trust motion. The BJP's 88 legislators staged a walkout from the House before the motion was put to vote.

Note

The Congress had decided to continue its support for the JD(U) government and handed over its letter of unconditional support to the governor. 

A party delegation, led by Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Choudhary, met the governor in this regard. 

The Congress has four legislators in Bihar but its support is crucial for the survival of the state government. 

Meanwhile, two rebel BJP legislators - Rana Gangeshwar Singh and Vijay Kumar Mishra - quit their Assembly seat reportedly to help the JD(U) government ahead of its floor test. 

Rana Gangeshwar Singh, who represents Mohiuddinagar constituency in Samastipur, and Mishra, who was an MLA from Jale seat in Darbhanga district, had already pledged their support to the JD(U). 

Earlier, three other rebel RJD leaders - Samrat Choudhary, Javed Iqbal and Ram Lakhan - had also resigned from their seats in support of Nitish.