A day after its historic landslide victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance unanimously voted for Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar to head the party and the alliance in the Legislature.
Mr. Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi will be sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister on Friday.
The swearing-in will take place at the city's historic Gandhi Maidan at 2.30 p.m. Governor Debanand Konwar will administer the oath of office and secrecy.
Earlier on Thursday, the JD (U) and the BJP held separate meetings with the newly-elected legislators, at which Mr. Kumar and Mr. Modi were unanimously elected leaders of the State JD (U) and BJP legislature parties.
The NDA alliance bagged 206 of the 243 constituencies, with the JD (U) securing 115 and the BJP, 91. In stark contrast, the Opposition has been reduced to a non-entity, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Jan Shakti Party combine barely securing 25 seats and the Congress, just 4 seats.
Later in the day, at an NDA meeting held at the Legislative Council Annexe, in which senior alliance leaders were present, Mr. Kumar reiterated that the unprecedented mandate was the victory of the people, and not of any party.
“Be modest”
Emphasising the need to be modest in the face of the massive win, he urged those present to refrain from saying that Opposition had been wiped out in Bihar.
“Let us not be under any illusions… an overwhelming mandate comes with its own set of traps as there is this great temptation to state that the Opposition has been wiped out in this election. This is the language of arrogance,” Mr. Kumar warned.
He directed the new MLAs to conduct themselves courteously in public, as their actions would be closely watched after this win.
“I request the new legislators not to barge into their flats with plaques bearing their names until one has been allotted to them,” Mr. Kumar said, adding that small actions made a big difference.
Stating that Bihar's voters had exhibited great political maturity in voting the NDA to power, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley remarked that the victory was a watershed in the history of the country's elections.
