BJP's Samrat Chaudhary, Vijay Sinha to take oath as Nitish Kumar's deputies

Bihar BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly Vijay Sinha will be appointed Deputy Chief Ministers, as per reports.

The party's national head JP Nadda will reach Patna this evening to finalise the Bihar realignment with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), or JD(U).

Nitish Kumar Sunday resigned as Bihar Chief Minister ending days of political speculation over his fifth switching of alliance in a decade.

Kumar met Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar this morning and handed over his resignation.

This is his eighth resignation in a political career, which saw his rise as a model of good governance before his repeated jumps across the political aisle that hit his popularity and his party JDU's electoral stature.

Speaking to reporters outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Kumar said: "I have tendered resignation as the chief minister today. I took this decision after listening to my party's MLAs. I will now form a new alliance today," Kumar said indicating his switch to BJP.

"I tried to put up an alliance of opposition but nothing was happening there," Kumar said on the decision to ditch the opposition INDIA alliance, something that was initiated by him.

The 72-year-old met with all JD(U) legislators in the morning before resigning as the Chief Minister, only to take a fresh oath with the BJP alliance in the evening.

All BJP MLAs in Bihar have already given letters of support to Nitish Kumar. The oath ceremony is likely to take place at 5PM this evening.

The BJP and JD(U) have also finalised a seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha election due in three months.