JD(U) legislator Jitan Ram Manjhi, who was handpicked by Nitish Kumar to succeed him on Tuesday, took oath of his office as the new Bihar Chief Minister. Along with Manjhi, 17 of his Ministers in the new Cabinet, mostly the old faces, took oath of their office by Bihar Governor DY Patil.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too was present at the oath-taking ceremony at the Raj Bhawan. Kumar introduced new Chief Minister Manjhi to those present on the occasion.
Most of the 17 Ministers who took oath as members of the new Cabinet were the Ministers in the Nitish Cabinet. However, two Independent MlAs Vinay Bihari and Dularchand Goswami were the exceptions to take oath as Ministers in the Manjhi Cabinet.
The face of the upcoming Manjhi Ministry would not be different from the previous Nitish Cabinet, as the old faces like PK Shahi, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Chaudhury, Bhim Singh, Shyam Rajak, Narendra Singh, Nitish Mishra, Shahid Ali Khan, Brishen Patel, Ramai Ram, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Awadhesh Kumar Kushwaha and Gautam Singh are accommodated in the new Cabinet. The only woman Minister who took oath was lesi Singh.
While counting priority of his Government, the new Chief Minister told mediapersons that he would carry forward the works started by Kumar and focus on Bihar’s development.
However, interestingly, Manjhi had earlier also said that he would not be a “rubber stamp” Chief Minister.
“I’ll not be a rubber stamp Chief Minister and by saying that the BJP has only highlighted their anti-Dalit mindset. The BJP has insulted Dalits,” said Manjhi, while adding that he would continue to take guidance from Kumar.
Significantly, earlier on Monday most of the JD(U) legislators and leaders had emphatically said that Kumar might not be the Chief Minister of the State, but the party and the Government would continue working under his guidance.
However, the State BJP leaders had charged that now Kumar would run the State Government with a dummy Chief Minister like Rabri Devi. “It would be a proxy Government with remote control in the hand of Kumar,” alleged the senior State BJP leader Shushil Kumar Modi.
“The new JD(U) Governm-ent is an old wine in a new bottle,” said a State BJP leader. However, Kumar while coming out from the Raj Bhawan emphatically said that he would not be running the new Government through remote control. “The new Cabinet under the new Chief Minister will run the Government. My job will be to coordinate between the Government and the party,” said Kumar.
In yet another development, the Bihar Congress too has declared to continue its support to the new JD(U) Government and handed over its letter of support to the State Governor.
“We have handed over our letter of support to the JD(U) Government,” said BPCC president Ashok Chaudhury. With support of the four-member Congress, two Indepen-dents and one CPI MlA, the numbers for the new JD(U) Government has increased to 124 in the State Assembly.
Meanwhile, Kumar has marked 7, Strand Road bungalow as his new address where renovation works are going on war-footing as per vaastu and personal liking of the former Bihar CM. The eight-room bungalow is being refurbished by State building construction and environment department.
People in Bihar have started comparing 7 Strand Road with 7 RCR, the official residence of the Prime Minister of India. “Both are the power centres and Kumar choosing 7 Strand Road now has sent the signal where the de facto power actually rests in Bihar,” said Satish Kumar, an advocate of Patna High Court.
It is said that Kumar would move in his new address within two weeks till then he will continue as the temporary resident of 1, Anne Marg.
Sources said that a walking track with elevated boundary wall and an extra gate with more plants and grass are the things to be done before Nitish Kumar moved in the residence. A close aide of Nitish Kumar and JD-U Rajya Sabha member RCP Sinha with his family currently lives in the bungalow officially allotted to another Nitish aide and party leader Sanjay Singh 'Gandhi'.