PATNA:
Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan on August 9 invited Nitish Kumar to form the government in Bihar again after the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader staked his claim and submitted the list of 165 MLAs supporting him.
The swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar is scheduled at 2 pm on August 10 at the Rajendra Mandapam inside Raj Bhavan. Besides him, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav will also take the oath as Deputy Chief Minister.
Nitish Kumar wants to take the oath on Wednesday afternoon as it will be a “Shubh Muhurat” (auspicious day). Wednesday is a “Purnima” of the ongoing Sawan month, which is of great importance in Hindu tradition.
While some sources said that six ministers will also be sworn-in on Wednesday, there is also a possibility that only Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav will be sworn-in and the cabinet expansion will take place later on.
However, it is not clear who the other MLAs would take oath at Wednesday’s event. Sources have said that the portfolios occupied by the BJP will be given to the RJD, the Congress and Left parties.
The leaders of the Mahagathbandhan are tightlipped on the distribution of portfolios but sources have said that Nitish Kumar will keep the Home portfolio with himself, and the post of Assembly Speaker will go to the RJD.
It is understood that Nitish Kumar will distribute the portfolios in a ratio of 1:4 or one minister for four MLAs. There is also a possibility that as there are 7 alliance partners in the Mahagathbandhan, the ratio may jump to 1:5.
For JD-U, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Chaudhary, Shrawan Kumar, Jama Khan, and Sumit Singh are the front runners for occupying ministerial berths again.
For the RJD, Bhai Virendra, Tej Pratap Yadav, Rahul Tiwari, etc., are also in the race. (IANS)