In 50 years, Bihar has had 21 chief ministers!

Last fortnight, Bihar saw its first woman chief minister when Rabri Devi, Laloo Prasad Yadav's wife, was sworn in. She was the state's 21st chief minister.

Bhola Paswan Shastri and Jagannath Mishra of the Congress have been chief minister thrice. Shastri first took charge in March 1968 while Mishra did so in April 1975. Laloo Yadav and Karpoori Thakur were twice elected chief minister. However, President's rule was imposed in Bihar for about a week in between Yadav's consecutive terms.

Overall, the state has been under President's rule six times.

Listed below are the chief ministers who ruled Bihar over the years:

Sr No Chief minister's name and party              Became CM in          



1     Sri Krishna Sinha (Congress)                 January 1946         



2     Deep Narain Singh (Congress)                 February 1961        



3     Binodanand Jha (Congress)                    February 1961        



4     Krishna Ballabh Sahay (Congress)             October 1963         



5     Mahanaya Prasad Singha (Bharatiya Kranti Dal)  March 1967           

                                                                       

6     Satish Prasad Sinha (Shoshit Dal)            January 1968         



7     Bindeshwari Prasad (Shoshit Dal)             February 1968        



8     Bhola Paswan Shastri (Congress)              March 1968           



9     Harihar Prasad Singh (Congress)              June 1969            



--    Bhola Paswan Shastri (Congress)              June 1969            



10    Doroga Prasad Rai (Congress)                 February 1970        



11    Karpoori Thakur (Bharatiya Kranti Dal)       December 1970        



--    Bhola Paswan Shastri (Congress)              June 1971            



12    Kedar Pande (Congress)                       March 1972           



13    Abdul Gafoor (Congress)                      July 1973            



14    Jagannath Mishra (Congress)                  April 1975           



--    Karpoori Thakur (Janata Party)               April 1979           



15    Ram Sunder Das (Janata Party)                April 1979           



--    Jagannath Mishra (Congress)                  June 1980            



16    Chandra Sekhar Singh (Congress)              August 1983          



17    Bindeshwari Dubey (Congress)                 March 1985           



18    Bhagwat Jha Azad (Congress)                  February 1988        



19    Satyendra Narayan Sinha (Congress)           March 1989           



--    Jagannath Mishra (Congress)                  December 1989        



20    Laloo Prasad Yadav (Janata Dal)              March 1990           



--    Laloo Prasad Yadav (Janata Dal)              April 1995           



21    Rabri Devi Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal)      July 1997            

Note:

The state was under President's rule during the following periods:

June 1968 to June 1969; January to February 1970; January to March 1972; May to June 1977; February 1980; and, March to April 1995.