Nitish Kumar to be sworn in Bihar CM on Nov 24

     New Delhi: JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as Bihar's new Chief Minister on November 24 at a ceremony at Patna's Gandhi Maidan, although it is not known who will be his deputy in the new coalition government. Earlier, the NDA combine comprising of the BJP, JD (U) made a clean sweep at the polls winning 146 seats in the 243 house state assembly. Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD alliance could win only 66 seats. Lok Janashakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who played kingmaker at the last polls and sided with neither the RJD alliance or the NDA, was rendered a nobody this time round, winning only 14 seats. Independents won a mere 17 seats. Describing the clean sweep in Bihar as "victory of the people," Nitish said that the coalition would work towards providing good governance. "I want to congratulate the people of Bihar. It is their victory, they wanted a change and they voted for a change. Every caste, every community in the state voted for change and stability. People in Bihar wanted good governance and we are grateful they have reposed faith in us. We will try to fulfil their ambitions," said Nitish. Nitish also congratulated the Election Commission for conducting an impartial and free election. "There was a myth that free elections were not possible in Bihar and the EC has destroyed that myth. We will also destroy another myth that there can be no governance in Bihar," he said.

      BJP President Lal Krishna Advani said that the people of Bihar had decided to choose the government that could provide them with good governance. "The best thing about this election is that we did not fight it on the caste factor, though it is still relevant there. But we managed to make the common voter to decide as to whom they would like to choose to provide them with a clean government and who could provide good governance to them," said Advani. NDA convener and JD (U) leader, George Fernandes, while greeting Kumar, said that their mission to end Yadav's corrupt rule had been successful. "We successfully ended the rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav' s 15 years of rule of corruption. We got down to the poll battle with this mission and it is now over," he said. The BJP also assured the JD (U) of complete coordination in government formation, and rubbished suggestions of differences between the allies. "There is absolutely no contradiction between the BJP and JD (U). We fought the elections on a common agenda and will proceed further with ease," said BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley, adding that the poor showing of RJD-led Secular Democratic Front was due to its "unconstitutional" behaviour after the February elections that threw up a hung Assembly. "The results have proved that people of Bihar want governance, rule of law and development. You just cannot fool people all the time," Jaitley added.

      While Lalu, conceding his defeat in the polls, promised to extend full support to the new government, the CPI said that the mandate was a negative vote in favour of the BJP and the JD (U). "I personally congratulate Nitishji, but not the BJP. Win and loss happens in politics. I take responsibility of the result. The issues like lack of development and corruption was thrust upon us. Anyway, I will extend full cooperation to the new government," said Lalu. "It is a negative vote in favour of BJP and JD (U). So it is a negative alternative. And the reasons for this, we have to see into objectively and dispassionately. What happened in the Bihar polls was that the UPA partners were divided, the left parties stood divided. This has brought such a situation where people started looking for an alternative and looking for a change," said D Raja, National Secretary, CPI.