Nitish Kumar took oath as the Bihar Chief Minister on Wednesday, a day after resigning from the same position. The Janata Dal (United) politician was sworn in for the eighth time in a ceremony at Raj Bhawan. Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister.

The ceremony comes a day after Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD to form a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government.

Also Read: Frenemies Forever: The Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav relationship

Minutes after taking the oath, Nitish Kumar walked up to the podium to deliver an address. “The new government will run just fine”, he said. The 71-year-old added, “He won in 2014, but should now worry about 2024”, referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking to reporters shortly after he was administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan, Kumar also rubbished the BJP’s claim that the new government will not last its full term, and said his former ally “will be back where they were after the 2015 assembly polls”.

Also Read: Nitish hails Mahagathbandhan after BJP split: We’ll serve people of Bihar

Leaders of the BJP, which is the second largest party in the assembly with 77 MLAs, were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing-in ceremony.

Earlier, senior BJP leader and former Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi had claimed that the party, with which Kumar broke his alliance the previous day, had received “no invitation”.