Senior NDA leaders, including Union minister JP Nadda, Lalan Singh, Bihar deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha, JDU working president Sanjay Jha, and BJP leader Rajeev Pratap Rudy, were present during the oath ceremony which took place in the chamber of Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan.
Kumar left for Patna after the oath ceremony. A meeting of BJP leaders was to take place in the evening, but it was postponed. The two deputy CMs also went back to Patna.
BJP Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde met the two deputy CMs–Choudhary and Sinha–separately before they left for Patna.
According to sources, a meeting of BJP leaders will take place in Delhi in the presence of home minister Amit Shah in a day or two.
Kumar will hold his last cabinet meeting as chief minister on April 13. He will resign from the post the next day.
Also Read: Samrat Choudhary emerges frontrunner in race to succeed Nitish Kumar as Bihar Chief MinisterThe NDA legislative party is likely to meet on the same day to elect the new leader and the oath ceremony of the new government will be on April 15.
The chief minister will be of the BJP and several names are already doing the rounds. With Nitin Nabin becoming the BJP national president, the party is likely to give a chance to an OBC or EBC leader to lead the state.
As per party sources, the current deputy CM, Samrat Choudhary, leads the race, coming from the Kushwaha community, which account for 5% of the state’s population. In his tenure as deputy CM, Choudhary worked closely with Nitish Kumar who has in the past praised him at public rallies.
Like in other states, if the party decides to create a new leadership in Bihar, it can give a chance to someone from the EBC or SC community. Sources told ET that the party will choose the new CM from the legislators and not from the parliamentarians or Union ministers.
Also Read: Bihar Assembly receives bomb threat, intensive search underway: Police
In the JDU, efforts are on to establish Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, in a leadership role, and there are chances that he might get elected to the Legislative Council on the seat left by his father.
JDU sources told ET that Nishant Kumar will play a key role in the next government as well as the party.
