Patna, Mar 14: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday declared elected unopposed to the legislative council, along with 10 others, who stood for the biennial polls to the Upper House.
Besides Kumar, who will be enjoying a fourth consecutive term, those who got elected include former chief minister Rabri Devi (RJD), who is the leader of the Opposition in the legislative council, and cabinet minister Santosh Suman. The CM, who heads the JD-U, reached the Vidhan Sabha secretariat to receive his certificate along with party colleagues like MLC Khalid Anwar, who got elected for a second consecutive term, and Lok Sabha MP and former national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan'.
Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both from the BJP, were also present at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat. Among the elected candidates, three are from the BJP — state president and former minister Mangal Pandey, who got a third consecutive term, besides Lal Mohan Gupta and Anamika Singh, both of whom made their debut.
The party banked on fresh blood, denying another term to veterans Sanjay Paswan and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain — former Union ministers.
Upon emerging from the Vidhan Sabha premises, Kumar flashed a broad smile when he was greeted by a posse of journalists. To their barrage of questions, ranging from announcement of a seat-sharing formula by the NDA and a long overdue expansion of his cabinet, Kumar calmly replied, “You will get to know it all very soon. Many things will become clear by this evening.”
