PATNA, Apr 14: Bihar is on the course to having its first BJP-led Government with JD(U) president Nitish Kumar resigning as Chief Minister on Tuesday and the ruling NDA backing Samrat Choudhary of the saffron party to take his place.
Choudhary, who was a Deputy Chief Minister, was named the NDA legislative party leader in the presence of Kumar, now a Rajya Sabha member. The soon-to-be CM touched the feet of his ex-boss upon being garlanded by him.
“All NDA legislators have unanimously backed Samrat Choudhary as their leader. A new Government will be formed tomorrow,” Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar, a senior BJP leader himself, told reporters after a meeting, which was attended by all MLAs of the alliance partners.
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After the meeting at the Central Hall of the Assembly building, Choudhary, along with BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is the party’s in-charge for Bihar, met Governor Syed Ata Hasnain to stake a claim to form a new government.
According to a communication from the Lok Bhavan, the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 11 am on Wednesday.
NDA sources said that Choudhary would be heading a “small cabinet”, which will see an expansion next month.
JD(U) sources said Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant, who had joined the party a month ago, was not keen on the deputy chief minister’s post and wanted to focus on strengthening the organisation.
Choudhary’s name had been doing the rounds for the Chief Minister’s post ever since Kumar made public his decision to enter the Rajya Sabha.
Prior to the NDA meeting on Tuesday, Choudhary had been named the leader of the BJP legislative party by the saffron party MLAs in the presence of party president Nitin Nabin, national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, national general secretary in charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde, and Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Chouhan had been named the “central observer” by the BJP parliamentary board for the transition.
Choudhary, who had cut his teeth in politics with the RJD and joined the BJP only in 2017, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for reposing their trust in him.
“I have been in politics for nearly three decades. But until joining the BJP, I could not appreciate the importance of ideological commitment. It shall be my endeavour to take forward Bihar as well as the BJP,” the 57-year-old leader told BJP workers. (PTI)
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