BJP calls sit-in protest ahead of Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony over political shift

|HT|

A major political shift in Bihar that sent shockwaves to the Bharatiya Janata Party has now led BJP workers and supporters to call a sit-in protest on Wednesday ahead of Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony as the state's chief minister. The Janata Dal (United) leader will take oath as the chief minister for the eight time today.

BJP leaders were seen raising slogans in Patna of ‘Nitish Kumar haye haye’ and ‘Nitish Kumar murdabad’ as Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav – as his deputy – prepare to take oath for the new ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government at 2pm.

Nitish Kumar resigned as chief minister of Bihar on Tuesday as the Janata Dal (United) exited the National Democratic Alliance. The realignment reached its logical end with JD(U) joining hand with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties for the Grand Alliance.

The BJP has accused Nitish of “backstabbing” the party as well as the people’s mandate and blamed his prime ministerial ambition for his decision to walk out.

Speculations are that of about 35 ministers in the new cabinet of Mahagathbandhan, 20 are likely from the RJD, the largest party in Bihar assembly, while JD(U) is expected to retain its ministers and and have around 11 to 13 in the cabinet.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)