BJP’s Samrat Choudhary Set to Be Sworn in as Bihar CM
Patna: BJP leader Samrat Choudhary will be sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar on Wednesday, marking the first time the party will lead a government in the state. Choudhary (57) is scheduled to take oath of office at Lok Bhawan here in the presence of senior leaders of the NDA comprising the BJP, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and three other parties.
Additionally, the prime ministers of many states will attend the oath ceremony.
Kumar, currently a Rajya Sabha MP, relinquished his post as prime minister on Tuesday, dissolving the Cabinet in which Choudhary was deputy prime minister and held the key domestic portfolio.
Choudhary, who joined the BJP in 2017, was elected as the legislative party leader on Tuesday in the presence of senior officials including BJP president Nitin Nabin and Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whom the parliamentary bench has called the “central observer” for the transition.
In a state where caste considerations are extremely important in politics, Choudhary becomes only the second person from the influential Koeri caste to occupy the top post.
In 1968, Satish Prasad Singh had barely a five-day tenure as prime minister before the coalition government collapsed after the Congress withdrew its support.
Choudhary also finds himself alongside Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur, the only other leader to become deputy CM and chief minister.
But unlike Choudhary’s rapid rise, there was a two-year wait for Thakur, who became deputy prime minister in 1967 and remained in office for 11 months before becoming prime minister in 1970.
