Bihar is moving quickly toward installing a new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government after the ruling coalition secured a massive mandate in the assembly elections, winning 202 of 243 seats. Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar is set to take oath at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Union ministers are expected to attend. This will be Nitish Kumar’s tenth swearing-in as chief minister.
The scale of the victory has raised expectations from the new government. Even as the administration prepares to take office, core issues such as employment, which dominated the campaign, remain unresolved. The mandate is likely to influence the composition of the new cabinet under Kumar. In the outgoing cabinet, the Bharatiya Janata Party held two deputy chief minister posts. With allies such as the LJP (RV), HAM and RLM also performing well, their representatives are expected to be accommodated to ensure stability.
The new cabinet may include about 15 ministerial berths from the BJP, which is the single-largest party with 89 seats. The JD(U) is likely to get 14 berths, while the LJP (RV) may receive three, and HAM and the RLM one each. In the previous government, the deputy chief ministers were Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha of the BJP. The mandate may prompt the BJP to recalibrate its strategy, including the possibility of elevating a Yadav MLA as deputy CM to strengthen its outreach to the community, as the RJD has been reduced to 25 seats. There is also speculation that the LJP (RV) may get a deputy chief minister post, with Chirag Paswan seeking a larger role in the government while continuing as a Union minister.
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Chief Minister Kumar recommended the dissolution of the assembly with effect from November 19 after the cabinet authorised him to submit the proposal to the governor. Once the assembly is dissolved, he is expected to resign to enable the formation of the new government.
Opposition in disarray
On the Opposition side, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) elected Tejashwi Yadav as leader of its legislative party. The meeting of MLAs also reviewed the reasons for the alliance’s poor performance, though Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi left before it concluded. The RJD camp is grappling not only with the scale of the defeat but also with internal discord within the Lalu Prasad Yadav family. Both the Congress and the RJD have blamed electronic voting machines and the conduct of the election for their losses. The collapse of the “vote chori” campaign is likely to weaken the Opposition’s position as the state heads into another election next year.
