By Kavita Mistry 
Nitish Kumar, who has been the chief minister of Bihar for most of the last two decades, has been confirmed for the top post again by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), following its historic win in the recently concluded assembly elections.
The decision, announced on Tuesday, comes after a meeting of NDA legislators. The coalition, which won 202 out of the 243 seats in Bihar, comprises 89 MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party and 85 legislators of the Janata Dal (United). Also, it has 19 MLAs of Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), five of Hindustan Awami Morcha (Secular) and four of Rashtriya Lok Morcha.
This will be Nitish’s 10th term as the chief minister of Bihar, having first taken oath back in 2000. Back then, he was part of the Samata Party. The tenure lasted for only seven days as the government could not hold the electoral strength to remain in power.
Later, in 2005, Nitish stormed to power with his party, the JD(U), winning a full majority in alliance with the BJP. The coalition retained power with a stronger mandate in 2010, allowing Nitish to remain at the helm of Bihar government.
In 2013, Nitish severed ties with the BJP, following the projection of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, but remained in power with external support from rivals Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress. In the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, his party contested alone and was wiped out. Taking moral responsibility of the rout, he resigned as the chief minister, allowing his then party colleague Jitan Ram Manjhi to take over the reigns.