Nitish Kumar on Thursday took oath for the sixth time as Bihar Chief Minister, less than 24 hours of quitting the Grand Alliance.
This is his second innings in the last two years, after he snapped ties late on Wednesday with the Grand Alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, over corruption charges against Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. His party JD(U) swapped allies, with the BJP extending support to his government.
BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi has been sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office to both at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
Reports suggest that the swearing-in ceremony was advanced from 5pm to 10am as RJD chief Lalu Prasad had planned to meet the Governor to stake claim to form the goverment.
TV reports suggest thata a trust vote is likely to take place on Saturday.
In dramatic and fast-paced developments in Bihar, Nitish Kumar on Wednesday evening resigned as Chief Minister dumping the RJD and Congress to stitch a new alliance with BJP, which quickly announced support to a new government under him and said it will join it too.
Nitish Kumar ended a 20-month-long grand alliance coalition that defeated the BJP in 2015 and put in his resignation claiming he can't work in the "current circumstances" following corruption charges against Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav -- son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
He told the media, "I have resigned for the sake of Bihar. I am not blaming anyone. But for me. I have done as much as it was possible. I thank everyone. The 20 months were not easy. I have run the government for its one-third period. I have faced many difficulties. But I always kept development in mind."
The resignation came as a shock as the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD appeared confident earlier in the day, stating that the alliance was intact with RJD and ruled out the possibility of Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav resigning. The BJP had made it a moral issue on part of the Bihar government to sack Tejaswi who has been named in a corruption case by the CBI on July 7.
With IANS inputs