Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar chief minister

PATNA - Cheered by tens of thousands of supporters, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar Friday took oath as Bihar chief minister for a second consecutive term after an unprecedented win in the assembly polls. He became the 32nd chief minister of the state.

As a sea of supporters waved party flags and raised slogans, Governor Debanand Konwar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nitish Kumar on a flower-decked platform at the Gandhi Maidan. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi also was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.

Nitish Kumar and Modi will head a government of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition that crushed an alliance of Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party in the polls to the 243-member legislative assembly.