BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary will take oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on Wednesday, becoming the first BJP head of the eastern state. The ceremony will take place in Patna at 10:30 am and will be held in the presence of NDA leaders.
The event will also see two deputy chief ministers, JD(U) senior leaders Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, being sworn in.
Bijendra Prasad, a nine-time MLA from Supaul in the Kosi region, is a veteran socialist and was a former RJD minister before he switched to JD(U). Yadav belongs to the OBC community.
Vijay Kumar Chaudhary’s name was already doing the rounds for the post of Deputy Chief Minister, considering he was a close confidant of Nitish Kumar. He was the Parliamentary and Water Resources Minister in the Nitish Kumar government and is said to have a strong hold in both the government and the organisation.
As for the rest of the Cabinet, an expansion is expected only after the Bengal elections. Interestingly, speculations were that Nitish’s son Nishant Kumar would likely be the deputy Chief Minister, but reports quoting sources said he preferred to focus on organisational work. However, the latest reports hint that Nishant Kumar is unlikely to even hold a Cabinet post. Even Nitish did not appear interested in promoting his son at this point.
"Nishant Kumar is active in politics. He has strengthened the party organisation by joining the party. He is meeting everyone, and his job is to understand the entire party very intelligently and to provide suggestions in collaboration with everyone." Jha added.
Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U) and became a Rajya Sabha MP last week, resigned as the chief minister on Tuesday.
