Delayed flight forces Rahul miss Nitish’s swearing-in

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, whose beleaguered party received a major boost as it won 27 of the 41 seats it contested in Bihar, had to miss the mega swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on Friday. 

“Flight delayed by more than an hour due to air traffic control & related issues. Just landed in Patna! On my way to Gandhi Maidan now,” the 45-year-old leader tweeted at 3 pm, almost an hour after Nitish and his ministers had taken their oaths. 

Congress is believed to be instrumental in bringing former enemies Nitish and Lalu together to form the Grand Alliance, which won 178 of the 243 seats in Bihar, routing the BJP-led alliance whose tally was 53. 

Four Congress MLAs - state party chief Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Awdesh Kumar Singh - missed their party vice-president among the audience in Gandhi Maidan as they took their oaths. 

Overseen by Governor Ram Nath Kovind, Nitish took the oath of office and secrecy in the name of God in Hindi. Lalu's sons, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, also took oath as ministers. 

The event was attended by a galaxy of opposition leaders from across the country, including chief ministers of half-a-dozen states and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.