After assuming office of the Chief Minister on Sunday evening, Nitish Kumar vowed to work without any prejudice and bias and fully cooperate with the Narendra Modi-led Government at the Centre. He also thanked the Prime Minister for his tweet greeting him and said he would definitely meet the Prime Minister when required.
The swearing-in ceremony was graced by a battery of senior leaders of different parties and three Chief Ministers of eastern region. The guests included former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Tarun Gogoi, the CMs of West Bengal, UP and Assam respectively, UP Minister Shivpal Yadav, Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Srikant Jena, CP Joshi, INlD leaders Abhay Chautala and Dushyant Chautala, JVM leader and former Jharkhand CM Babulala Marandi, NCP leader Tariq Anwar besides outgoing CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav.
Nitish said political differences apart, he was ready to cooperate with the Centre and continue fighting for the interests of Bihar. “My priority will be governance and I assure that I will not work with any sense of prejudice and vendetta,” he said in an oblique reference to his predecessor Manjhi. However, he added that the decisions taken by Manjhi of late would be reviewed with an open mind. “I have to work hard and also to compensate for the work that was affected or slowed down.
Nitish emphasised on cooperation among the backward States of the region and said there is a need of common stand over development. He said he would also speak to Odisha CM Navin Patnaik on this issue. However, he said it is premature to raise a political bloc of these parties.
On the non-participation of his allies RJD and Congress in his Government, Nitish explained that he had spoken to the leadership of the two parties and wanted that these parties also join his Government. But the decision has to be taken by them, he added.
Incidentally, RJD supremo lalu Prasad did not attend the oath ceremony. The CM explained that he was quite busy with the wedding preparation of his daughter. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also wrote a letter to Nitish congratulating him. In her letter, she mentioned that after his resignation the governance in the State was not up to the expectation of the people and hoped that with his coming back the administrative lapses would be redressed.
Earlier at a jam-packed hall, Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi administered oath of office to Nitish and his 22 Ministers. All these 22 Ministers were in the Cabinet of Manjhi, which had 30 Ministers. Only eight Ministers, who sided with Manjhi, have been omitted.
The Ministers are: Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Ramai Ram, Damodar Raut, Narendra Narayan Yadav, PK Shahi, Shyam Rajak, Awadhesh Kushwaha, leshi Singh, Dulalchand Goswami, Rajiv Ranjan Singh lalan, Ram lakhan Ram Raman, Ramdhani Singh, Jai Kumar Singh, Manoj Singh, Javed Iqbal Ansari, Bima Bharti, Ranju Gita, Baidyanath Sahni, Naushad Alam and Vinod Prasad Yadav. They will also retain their old portfolios.
While Narendra Modi in his Tweet said, “Congratulations &best wishes to Shri Nitish Kumar on being sworn in as Bihar CM,” Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi tweeted, “Nitish became CM for fourth and last time.”