Patna: A day after announcing a new grand alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and other opposition parties after breaking away from the BJP, Nitish Kumar on Wednesday took oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for the eighth time.
Tejashwi Yadav took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Also present at the swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan were Tejashwi Yadav's wife Rajshri, former CM Rabri Devi, RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav and scores of party workers.
Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister for the first time on March 3, 2000 despite falling short of a majority, and remained the CM for seven days. Since neither the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) nor the National Democratic Alliance could cross the halfway-mark in the Assembly, Nitish resigned on March 10, 2000 even before the vote of confidence could take place in the Assembly.
In 2005 Nitish Kumar took oath as the Bihar CM for the second time after his party won 88 seats and its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which won 55 seats. The government sailed through the majority mark of 122 in a curtailed 243-member House due to the formation of Jharkhand. He successfully completed his five-year term.
In 2010, he was again sworn-in as the CM, but in 2013 he dumped the BJP and after the poll loss he resigned and appointed Jitan Ram Manjhi as the CM. However, he returned as the CM in 2015 and said it was a mistake to resign. In 2015 he allied with the RJD and swept the polls, but in 2017 he parted ways with the RJD and teamed up with the BJP and continued till the Assembly election in 2020. He was sworn-in as the CM for the seventh time.
