Nitish Kumar to take oath as Bihar CM tomorrow, Tejashwi to be his deputy

Nitish Kumar, once seen as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broke ranks with the BJP-led NDA coalition Tuesday to stake claim as head of the rival 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to be chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time.

Kumar, 71, who earlier in the day submitted his resignation as the chief minister heading the NDA coalition, said he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to Governor Phagu Chauhan who will decide when the oath-taking can take place.

The



effective strength of the state Assembly is 242 and the magic figure is 122.

RJD's leader Tejashwi Yadav will be the deputy chief minister and the new cabinet will have representatives from the RJD and Congress besides JD(U), according to sources. The Left parties are likely to give outside support to the new government "retaining their independent identity".

Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav will be sworn in as the Chief Minister and Deputy CM respectively at 2 pm on Wednesday in Raj Bhavan.