BREAKING: Nitish Kumar To Be NDA CM Face In Bihar, BJP Confirms

New Delhi: Nitish Kumar , the JD (U) leader, on Tuesday was officially confirmed to lead the NDA for the upcoming Bihar elections, putting an end to speculation surrounding the ruling alliance’s choice for chief minister.

Reports indicate that Kumar has not yet decided whether he will continue as Chief Minister or delegate the role to someone else, with the final decision expected only after the election results are declared.

This comes days after seven MLAs from the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) were inducted as ministers in the Bihar government on Wednesday, as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his Cabinet ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections.

7 BJP MLAs Take Oath As Ministers in Nitish Cabinet

The newly sworn-in ministers are BJP MLAs Jibesh Kumar, Raju Kumar Singh, Dr. Sunil Kumar, Motilal Prasad, Krishna Kumar Mantoo, Vijay Kumar Mandal, and Sanjay Saraogi. Following the oath ceremony, Sanjay Saraogi expressed the NDA's target of winning 225 out of 243 seats in the upcoming elections. "The Chief Minister had expressed his faith in me, and I will meet the expectations. Our aim is to get over 225 seats, and under the leadership of the CM, we will achieve it," said Saraogi.

At the ceremony held at Raj Bhavan, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan administered the oath of office to the new ministers, increasing the Cabinet's strength to 36.

Rashtriya Lok Morcha president Upendra Kushwaha clarified that the Cabinet expansion was not linked to the upcoming elections and was a pre-decided move. "It was decided to happen. Today, it happened. No need to connect it with the elections," he said.

Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal also welcomed the new ministers, stating that their experience would greatly benefit the state. "Those who have been made ministers today have a long experience, and both the government and the public will benefit from it," Jaiswal said.

Earlier in the day, Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal resigned from his position in the Cabinet. Bihar is set to go for assembly elections later this year.