Nitish Kumar will resign on Monday as the incumbent chief minister of Bihar and will be ready for reappointment after his party elects him leader of the newly elected legislators later in the evening. On Sunday evening, Sanjay Kumar Jha, JD(U) strategist and working president, returned to Patna after meeting Home Minister Amit Shah in the presence of BJP chief JP Nadda.
Meanwhile, preparations at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan are underway for a likely swearing-in ceremony on November 19 or 20, depending on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schedule. Senior BJP chief ministers are also expected to attend.
The BJP and the JD(U) completed the first round of discussions on Cabinet-sharing and agreed in principle to a formula that could allocate one ministerial berth for every six MLAs. Sources said, as per the agreed formula, there could be 14-15 ministerial berths each for BJP and JDU, three for LJP(RV), and one for HAM, taking the total to 37-38 ministerial berths in the new Nitish Kumar Government.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, closely followed by the JD(U) with 85. The RLJP won 19, the HAM secured 5 and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha bagged 4. It was, however, not clear when the BJP will convene its MLAs' meet. Sources in the party said Central party observers may be appointed on Monday to decide on the Deputy CMs, which includes a woman and the probables in the Nitish council of ministers.
Sources in both parties said the new Government will see a good number of women participants, as they proved instrumental in the BJP-JD(U) combine's victory.
Sources said the BJP led by Amit Shah will now begin talks with its smaller allies to finalise their share in the Nitish cabinet. Union Minister and HAM president Jitan Ram Manjhi is scheduled to meet Amit Shah and other senior BJP leaders on Monday afternoon. He had already called on senior BJP leader in charge of Bihar, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan late evening on Sunday.
