Mamata, Naveen to attend Nitish’s swearing-in on Nov 20

Several top leaders from non-Congress and non-BJP outfits are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government. 

State JD-U president Basistha Narayan Singh said those likely to attend the event include West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, along with former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. 

Nitish Kumar, who led the grand alliance to a resounding victory on Sunday, is likely to take oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fifth time on November 20. The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled to be held at the iconic Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

Kumar will take oath as the Bihar chief minister, along with a 35-member council of ministers, after Chhath, which will be celebrated in the third week of November, the state JD(U) chief said. 

“People are busy with Diwali and after that comes Chhath, which ends on November 18. So the oath-taking of the new government in all likelihood will be after Chhath,” Singh said. Though the decision to this effect will be taken by the Chief Minister but the date seems likely, he added.

Two senior Ministers of Kumar’s outgoing Cabinet indicated that talks are on among top leadership of the three constituent parties of the grand alliance on government formation.  

It is learnt that the alliance will stick to the 4:4:2 seat-sharing formula between RJD, JD(U) and Congress on ministry distribution. 

Sources said that the RJD may press for the Deputy CM’s post, for which names of Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharati and former leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui are doing the rounds. Though Misa is not a legislator, she could enter the Legislative Council on the seat vacated by Lalu’s personal assistant Bhola Yadav, now an MLA. There are high chances of one of Lalu ’s sons – Tej Pratap who won from Mahua and Tejashwi who won from Raghopur — bagging ministerial berths.

This would be the fifth time that Kumar would take oath as the Chief Minister. His first stint was in 2000 when he headed a government for only seven days. He rode to power in November 2005 and again in 2010. In February 2015, he took oath for the high office for the fourth time after Jitan Ram Manjhi was removed from the chair.