Janata Dal United leader Nitish Kumar will take oath as Bihar the Chief Minister at Gandhi Maidan in Patna at 2pm on Friday.
In the recent Bihar assembly polls, the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) won with 178 seats, defeating the BJP-led NDA, who managed just 58 seats.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the single-largest party with 80 Assembly seats, followed by the JD-U (71) and the Congress (27).
Here are 10 things to know about Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony:
- Nitish Kumar, who will take oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the fifth time, will take over the state government for the third straight term.
RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav's younger son Tejaswi Yadav is expected to be sworn in as Deputy CM. His elder son Tej Pratap Yadav will also take oath as cabinet minister. - Governor Ramnath Kovind will administer the oath to the council of ministers.
- The slots for the 36-member cabinet is likely to be divided among the three coalition partners with a formula of one minister for every five MLAs.
As per the formula, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD will get 16 ministers, while the JD-U will get 15 including the Chief Minister's post and the Congress will get five. - RJD legislators Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Srinarayan Yadav, Alok Kumar Mehta, Prof Chandrashekhar and Chandrika Rai may get inducted in the cabinet, while in JDU, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar, Narendra Narayan Yadav and Mewa Lal Chaudhary are expected to get cabinet posts.
Among Congress leaders, party's state president and MLC Ashok Chaudhary and newly elected MLA Abdul Jalil Mastan are expected to get ministerial berths. - Security has been beefed up at the venue considering the number of VIP guests at the event. Over 2,000 security personnel have been deployed at the venue and several CCTV cameras have been installed. VVIPs and those under SPG cover would sit in a two canopy shaped dais.
- The event will be graced by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge
- Nine chief ministers, including six from Congress-ruled states, will attend the event. The chief ministers of Congress-ruled states include Arunachal Pradesh CM Nabam Tuki, Assam's Tarun Gogoi, Himachal Pradesh's Virbhadra Singh, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Manipur CM O Ibobi Singh and Sikkim's P K Chamling.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will also be present at the ceremony. - Among former Chief Ministers, the confirmed guests include Chattisgarh ex-CM Ajit Jogi, Delhi ex-CM Sheila Dikshit, Gujarat's Shankar Singh Baghela, Haryana's Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Jammu & Kashmir's Omar Abdullah and Jharkhand's Babulal Marandi and Hemant Soren.
- Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited for the event, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Rajiv Pratap Rudy will represent the Central government.
- RJD has also asked for berths in roads, rural development and urban development portfolios, said reports. The party is likely to stake claim for the Speaker's berth.
