Patna: In Bihar’s new nine-member NDA government, JD(U)’s ministerial line-up has been predictable. However, it is the BJP that has introduced surprise faces.
After breaking ties with the Opposition INDIA alliance, Nitish Kumar resigned Sunday and took oath as chief minister for the ninth time. The BJP’s Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha were sworn in as deputy CMs. Choudhary, who belongs to the other backward classes (OBC), is the BJP’s state president and now also the leader of the party’s Legislative wing, while Sinha, former speaker and leader of the opposition, is from the upper caste.
BJP sources said that both Choudhary and Sinha have butted heads with Nitish in the past. Choudhary has been highly critical of Nitish Kumar and last year even went as far as sporting a turban, reportedly swearing that he would remove it only after he got Nitish removed as CM.
“I went to (Home Minister) Amit Shah to ask him for a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. He told me to have patience and said he intended to use me for Bihar,” Choudhary told ThePrint. He took oath Sunday while still wearing the turban.
Choudhary is the son of Kushwaha leader Shakuni Choudhary, one of the founder leaders of erstwhile Samata Party. He has been a minister in the RJD government headed by Rabri Devi and previous Nitish government. After he joined the BJP in 2018, his rise was meteoric. He was made Member of Legislative Council and then the leader of the BJP in the state council. He was made state party president last year to woo the Kushwahas, the second largest OBC block in Bihar after the Yadavs
On the other hand, Sinha as Speaker had a spat with the CM over police action in his constituency Lakhisarai.
“This is an indication that BJP leadership wants to keep Nitish on a tight leash as the two are neither docile like his previous deputies or too friendly like Sushil Kumar Modi was,” said a senior BJP leader to ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
When BJP-JD(U) relations were in crisis in 2022 there was very little then deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad could do to prevent the downward slide. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had to fly to Patna to meet Nitish, making a futile effort to save the alliance. Both Deputy CMs, Prasad and Renu Devi — installed by the BJP after removing Sushil Kumar Modi from the post following the 2020 assembly polls — were considered too feeble to tackle Nitish.
The third to be sworn in as BJP minister is old hand Dr Prem Kumar. An eight-time MLA from Gaya seat, Kumar has been a minister in the previous government. However, after 2020 he was dumped along with the old guards, which included deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishor Yadav. Kumar hails from the Chandravanshi caste which comes under the economically backward classes (EBC) block.
Meanwhile, JD(U) has relied on trusted hands. Apart from Nitish Kumar, others to take oath were Vijendra Prasad Yadav, who has held the energy department for the past 15 years; Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who held the finance department portfolio in the previous government and has emerged as Nitish’s crisis manager and as the one the CM sends in to negotiate with other parties; and Shravan Kumar, minister of rural development in the previous ministry, who is also from the same caste and district as Nitish – Kurmi and Nalanda, respectively.
Two others took the total strength to nine — Santosh Manjhi, son of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and minister in the previous ministry until Nitish ousted the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) from the alliance last year; and Independent MLA Sumit Singh, who has been a minister throughout the current Nitish regime.
“We were with the NDA earlier too. In between, we went with some other party, but now we are back with the BJP. People of our party feel that they should go with BJP. Right now, eight people have been sworn in. There will be swearing in of more ministers. Two deputy chief ministers have been named, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. We have taken this decision in the interest of the state,” Nitish Kumar told the media after taking oath.
Also Read: Nitish takes oath as Bihar CM for 9th time, BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary & Vijay Sinha sworn in as deputies
RJD thanks BJP for ‘taking Nitish’
Following the oath-taking ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Nitish in a post on X.
बिहार में बनी एनडीए सरकार राज्य के विकास और यहां के लोगों की आकांक्षाओं को पूरा करने के लिए कोई कोर-कसर नहीं छोड़ेगी। @NitishKumar जी को मुख्यमंत्री और सम्राट चौधरी जी एवं विजय सिन्हा जी को उप मुख्यमंत्री पद की शपथ लेने पर मेरी बहुत-बहुत बधाई।
मुझे विश्वास है कि यह टीम पूरे…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 28, 2024
Meanwhile, following Nitish’s resignation, RJD MLAs had gone to Rabri Devi’s house. “(RJD chief) Laluji was looking very calm. He told us that what has happened is good and what will happen will be better,” an RJD MLA told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
In a video posted on his X account, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav listed the achievements of the JD(U)-RJD grand alliance government, saying, “What had not happened in 17 years happened in 17 months of our government.” He also reportedly “thanked” the BJP for “taking Nitish Kumar’s party along”.
काबिल इतने बनिए कि आपको रोकने के किए लोग कोशिश नहीं बल्कि साजिश करें।#Bihar #TejashwiYadav pic.twitter.com/kYs0aIhCDi
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) January 28, 2024
His brother Tej Pratap Yadav, however, was not as kind and called Nitish “Palti Kumar”, while sister Rohini Acharya called him “garbage”.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also Read: Bihar BJP thinks it doesn’t need Nitish Kumar anymore. Ball now in Modi-Shah’s court