JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time

Tags: State News

JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the 8th time and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as Deputy Chief Minister on 10 August.

Important facts

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Governor Fagu Chauhan and submitted his resignation as the Chief Minister of NDA.

• Nitish Kumar again met Governor Fagu Chauhan on 9 August and staked a claim to form a new government in the state.

• Nitish Kumar also submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the Governor belonging to seven parties supporting him. These include RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha, left parties and one independent MLA.

• Nitish Kumar was unanimously elected as the leader in a joint meeting of these parties.

• The meeting took place after the JD(U) broke ties with the BJP-led NDA.

Nitish Kumar early life

• He was born on 1 March 1951 in  Bakhtiarpur, Bihar. 

• He is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Bihar College of Engineering (present-day NIT Patna).

• Before joining politics, he was associated with Bihar State Electricity Board.

Political career of Nitish Kumar

• During 1974 to 1977, he participated in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement and joined the Janata Party led by Satyendra Narayan Sinha.

• In 1989, Nitish Kumar backed the Janata Dal and endorsed Lalu Prasad Yadav as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

• In 1994, he along with George Fernandes formed a new party called Samata Party.

• After joining hands with the BJP in 1996, he became a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet.

• In March 2000, Nitish served as the chief minister of the state for seven days.

• In 2003, the Samata Party merged with Sharad Yadav's Janata Dal.

• In the same year, Janata Dal (United) was formed.

• In 2010, Nitish's party came to power as an ally with the BJP and Nitish again became the chief minister.

• In 2013, JD(U) leader Nitish broke his party's alliance with the BJP after 17 years.

• Within a year, Nitish was back again as Chief Minister with the support of RJD and Congress.

• In 2020, Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the seventh time with the support of the BJP.

• Nitish Kumar again ended his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and rejoined the RJD.

• He briefly served as the Union Minister of Railways, Minister of Surface Transport and Minister of Agriculture.