Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to build his party's strength and has boosted it in Bihar, the country's third most populous state. In a dramatic turn of events on July 26, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), party stepped down to safeguard his anti-corruption image as a corruption investigation entangled his deputy chief minister, Tejashwi Yadav. Yet hours after Kumar stepped down, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offered its 53 seats in the Bihar state assembly in support of Kumar's 71 seats, giving the newly formed BJP-JD(U) alliance the slim majority needed to form the government. As a result, Kumar was sworn in again as chief minister on July 27, with BJP state leader Sushil Kumar Modi (no relation to the prime minister) taking office as deputy chief minister. ...
