Nitish Kumar on Sunday morning resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar and later in the afternoon tooth oath for the same position for the 9th time at the Raj Bhavan in Patna. Earlier in the day, he submitted his resignation to Governor Rajendra V Arlekar, who then dissolved the government that he formed in August 2022 in alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties. The coalition called Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance was formed after Kumar left the NDA alliance.

Kumar and his party, Janata Dal United, have now joined hands with the BJP led NDA bloc.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Bihar’s new CM and his deputies, BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha. “The NDA government formed in Bihar will leave no stone unturned for the development of the state and to fulfill the aspirations of its people,” PM said in his tweet. He also expressed confidence that “this team will serve my family members of the state with full dedication.”

Meanwhile the Congress slammed Kumar. “Nitish Kumar, who frequently changes political partners, is giving tough competition to the chameleons in changing colours. The people of Bihar will not forgive the experts of this betrayal and those who made them dance on their tune”, the Congress said. General Secretary (Communication), Jairam Ramesh also affirmed that despite some hurdles here and there, the INDI A bloc is strong and will fight unitedly against BJP.

Nitish Kumar’s former deputy and son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has said that the game is yet to be played in Bihar and asserted that the JD(U) Party will be finished in 2024. He also congratulated BJP for taking Nitish Kumar who he described and “tired” and “visionless”.