Nitish elected leader of Grand Alliance legislature party

Patna: Legislators of the Grand Alliance on Saturday unanimously elected Nitish Kumar as their leader in the assembly, paving the way for him to once again become the chief minister.

Nitish Kumar, who led the Grand Alliance to a victory in the assembly elections, was unanimously elected leader of the legislature party of the three-party grouping that includes the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.

JD-U state president Vashisht Narain Singh said the newly-elected legislators of the Grand Alliance met in the annexe of the Bihar Legislative Council premises and unanimously elected Nitish Kumar as the legislature party leader.

Nitish Kumar' election as the leader came after he was elected leader of the JD-U legislature party and hours after he submitted his resignation to Governor Ramnath Kovind.

"This formality is now over, now Nitish Kumar will stake claim to form the next government" Singh said.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar met the governor, submitted his resignation and said the cabinet had decided to dissolve the outgoing assembly.

The governor urged him to continue as caretaker chief minister till a new government is formed.

According to JD-U leaders, Nitish Kumar will take oath as chief minister on November 20 along with a 36-member council of ministers.

The RJD emerged as the single largest party with 80 assembly seats, followed by the JD-U with 71 and the Congress with 27 seats.

There will be 16 ministers from Lalu Prasad's RJD, 15 from the JD-U and five from the Congress in the new government, said sources.