PATNA  (TIP): JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar took oath on November 20 as Bihar’s 35th chief minister. Kumar took oath for the fifth time at Patna’s iconic Gandhi Maidan in the afternoon in the presence of many political leaders from across the country. The Grand Alliance bagged 178 out of the 243 seats in the just-concluded assembly polls, which was billed as a battle between Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had campaigned extensively for the BJP-led NDA.

Former chief minister Lalu Prasad’s RJD pulled off a bigger surprise by emerging as the single-largest party, winning 80 seats while the JD(U) 71 and the Congress 27.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined to attend the event, the BJP was represented by party leaders and central ministers, including M. Venkaiah Naidu and Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

Tens of thousands of Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Lalu Prasad supporters, besides nine chief ministers, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and leaders of several other political parties attended the event.

The oath taking was attended by many political leaders from various parties.