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Rabri Devi sworn in as Bihar CM

Rashtriya Janata Dal legislature party leader Rabri Devi was today sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar following the revocation of President's rule in the state last night.

Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari administered the oath of secrecy to Rabri Devi at a simple function held at the Patna Raj Bhavan.

She is the 28th chief minister of the state.

The chief minister said her cabinet colleagues were expected to take oath tomorrow.

Prominent among those who headed the ceremony were state legislative council chairman Jabir Hussain, assembly speaker Deo Narayan Yadav, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and other senior leaders of his party, besides Justice J N Dubey.

However, the ceremony was boycotted by the BJP.

The RJD legislature party elected Rabri Devi as its leader this morning. The decision of the RJD was supported by 14 other MLAs, taking the party's total strength to 163 in the 324-member house.

Later, the governor invited Rabri Devi to form the government.

The Rabri Devi government in the state was dismissed by the Centre on February 12 and President's rule imposed following the massacres of dalits in extremist dominated Jehanabad district of central Bihar.

But the Vajpayee government was forced to revoke central rule after the Congress made it clear that it will not support the ratification bill in the Rajya Sabha. The government had managed to get President's rule ratified in the Lok Sabha.

Earlier, Laloo Prasad Yadav, the RJD chief and the chief minister's husband, said development of the state would be the first priority of the government and the lives of the dalits, backwards and minorities would be protected at all costs.

UNI

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