Nitish Kumar sworn in as Bihar CM; Sushil Kumar Modi as Deputy CM

Patna, Bihar: Within less than 24 hours of quitting Grand Alliance, Nitish Kumar on Thursday took oath as Bihar Chief Minister, holding hands with Bharatiya Janata Party as a partner of Janata Dal-United. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has served as a Bihar Deputy CM in the past, once again took oath as Deputy CM with a wide smile on his face. This is Nitish’s second innings in the last two years, after he snapped ties late on Wednesday with the Grand Alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, over corruption charges against Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office to Nitish Kumar at the Raj Bhavan here. The decision of resigning from the alliance was termed as ‘betrayal’ by RJD Chief Lalu Yadav, who made several verbal attacks on Nitish post his resignation. In a string of Tweets Lalu accused him of being a “murderer”. Even Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday expressed his angst against Nitish’s decision and said, “Nitish betrayed grand alliance”.