Nitish sworn in, heads 30-member ministry

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In a ceremony matched in grandeur by the NDA’s landslide victory in Bihar, JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar was on Friday sworn in as the transitional state’s 32nd chief minister in front of tens of thousands of people who thronged Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to witness what many call a historic moment.
Mr Kumar and his trusted ally Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP were among 30 leaders — 19 from JD(U) and 11 from BJP — who were administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Devanand Konwar on a large, elaborately bedecked dais at Bihar’s most popular address in its capital city. Mr Modi, who was sworn in as a Cabinet minister, will continue as the deputy chief minister.
The decision about the oath-taking of only 30 ministers in place of the prescribed number of 35 was said to be a collective decision between the two parties reached on Thursday night. Both Mr Kumar and Mr Modi, already sensing alacrity and discontent about ministerial berths in many senior MLAs in their parties, reportedly agreed upon the plan to keep the Cabinet door ajar for a while.
Mr Kumar visited his ailing mother at a Patna hospital soon after being sworn in and sought her blessings. He then headed to the chief minister’s office at the Secretariat and formally joined work after receiving a guard of honour. “I am beginning to complete the work left half done during the first term. I seek everyone’s cooperation to get there,” said the 59-year-old Mr Kumar to journalists during a brief interaction.
With an array of the BJP’s top leaders attending the swearing-in ceremony, the event reflected the national party’s alacrity to cash in on its stupendous success in Bihar for rising to power in other states and at the Centre.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari, L.K. Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Shahnawaz Hussain, Ananth Kumar, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Shatrughan Sinha were among the top leaders. JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and several party MPs were present.
The Opposition parties, which had miserably failed to withstand the groundswell in favour of Mr Nitish Kumar’s NDA government in the Assembly polls, had sent none of their members to the grand swearing-in ceremony, signalling the sombre moods in the Opposition camps.