Nitish Kumar, the leader of the Janata Dal (United), took the oath to serve as the Chief Minister of Bihar once more on Wednesday, ending the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Phagu Chauhan, the governor of Bihar, also gave the oath to Tejashwi Yadav, the head of the RJD and the majority party in the Mahagathbandhan alliance, making him the state’s deputy chief minister. For the eighth time in a space of 22 years, Nitish Kumar took the oath of office as the chief minister of Bihar.
Stakeholders in the Bihar Assembly Equation Following the 2020 Elections
The National Democratic Alliance won 125 seats in the hotly contested 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, defeating the BJP by 74 votes, the Janata Dal (United) by 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) by four, and the Hindustan Awaam Party by four (Secular).
With this, the NDA achieved the 122-majority requirement to form the government.
The RJD and its supporters, on the other hand, had won 110 seats. The RJD became the single-largest party with 75 members, while the Congress only managed to secure 19 seats. The Left parties competed for 29 seats, and the CPI (ML-Liberation) won 12, giving them a total of 16 victories.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM has won five seats in the Seemanchal region of the state. Four of its MLAs, though, have joined the RJD.
Ranking of the parties in the 242 member Bihar House, which is lower than the previous 243 due to the loss of one RJD MLA, is as follows: Congress (19), CPI(M-L) (12), CPI (4), AIMIM (1), BJP (77), JD(U) (45), HAM(S) (4), RJD (79), Independent (1).
Nitish Kumar’s Flip Flop
Nitish Kumar supported Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Janata Dal in 1989 as they ran to lead the opposition in the Bihar Assembly. He and George Fernandes co-founded the Samata Party in 1994. He became a member of the BJP in 1996, and in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration, he was made a minister.
In March 2000, Nitish had just been the state’s chief minister for a little over seven days. Despite taking the oath, he immediately resigned because the NDA and its allies held 151 seats. Both parties fell short of the required 163 seats since RJD had 159 MPs while they both had fewer.
The Janata Dal of Sharad Yadav and the Samata Party merged in 2003, but their alliance with the BJP maintained. In the same year, the Janata Dal (United) was established.
JD(U) regained control of the government in an alliance with the BJP in 2005 as a member of the NDA.
In order to retake control in 2010, Nitish’s party and the BJP teamed together, and he once more resumed the role of Chief Minister.
The JDU leader and the BJP cut ties in 2013 after 17 years. He later won a trust vote with Congress’ assistance, but he resigned in 2014 anyway. However, within a year Kumar was back in charge as chief minister thanks to support from the RJD and the Congress.
The state assembly elections were won by the Grand Alliance of the JD(U), Congress, and RJD in 2017. The partnership, however, fell apart in less than two years as a result of Tejashwi Yadav, a deputy chief minister, being implicated in a money laundering inquiry.
Nitish soon gained the support of the BJP and regained power after leaving the coalition and resigning as chief minister.
In 2020, Kumar took the oath to serve as the seventh chief minister of Bihar, with the support of the BJP.
