Nitish Kumar sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister for a fourth term Sunday Feb 22,2015

 

Ending days of political drama following a bitter power struggle with outgoing chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Janata Dal (United) stalwart Nitish Kumar on Sunday Feb 22,2015 took the oath as Bihar chief minister for the fourth time.

Nitish Kumar was administered the oath of office by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at a glittering function at the Raj Bhavan.
Among those who took the oath today were Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Ramai Ram, Damodar Raut, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Lalan Singh, P K Shahi, Shyam Rajak, Awadhesh Kumar Kushwaha, Leshi Singh, Dulal Chandra Goswami, Ram Lakhan Ram Raman, Ramdhani Singh, Jai Kumar Singh, Javed Iqbal Ansari, Bima Bharti, Ranju Geeta, Badiyanath Sahni, Shravan Kumar, Manoj Kushwaha, Vinod Prasad Yadav and Naushad Alam.

The event was attended by - among others - Jitan Ram Manjhi who had refused to quit as chief minister to make way for Kumar, in defiance of the party leadership. 

Former Prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee, Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav and Assam CM Tarun Gogoi attended the swearing-in ceremony. 

However, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad were conspicuous by their absence. 

Soon after his swearing-in, Nitish said: “We could be confronting each other on the political platform, but the Centre and the state government are both responsible for development. I will readily work with the honourable Prime minister and the Government of India in the interest of Bihar.” 

Nitish Kumar said Lalu could not make it because of his preoccupation with his daughter’s marriage. 

Nitish Kumar did not include any new face in the ministry and retained all those leaders who were part of the previous government, except those who had sided with Jitan Ram Manjhi during the recent power struggle in the state.