New Ministers In Bihar: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expanded his cabinet, with the largest share of seats going to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Governor Fagu Chauhan administered the oath of office to the new ministers.
A total of 31 ministers were included in the Bihar cabinet today. RJD got 16 ministerial posts, followed by Janata Dal (United) retained 11.
Nitish Kumar kept the home portfolio, while his deputy Tejashwi Yadav got key portfolios like health, road construction, urban development, housing and rural development. Tejashwi Yadav’s brother Tej Pratap Yadav is the new Environment Minister of Bihar.
The JD(U) retained most of its ministers, including Mohammad Zama Khan, Jayant Raj, Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni, Shravan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh, Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Bijendra Yadav.
From RJD Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta, Surendra Prasad Yadav and Ramanand Yadav, Kumar Sarvjeet, Lalit Yadav, Sameer Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar, Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh, Israel Mansoori, Surendra Ram, Kartikeya Singh, Shahnawaz Alam Shamim Ahmed took oath
Two Congress MLAs Afaq Alam and Murari Lal Gautam were inducted into the cabinet, while Santosh Suman took oath from Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha. lone independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh also took oath as cabinet minister
There can be 36 ministers including the Chief Minister in the Bihar cabinet. Sources said that some ministerial posts have been kept vacant for future cabinet expansion.
Nitish Kumar had snapped ties with the BJP and formed the government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and Tejashwi Yadav took oath on 10 August.
Sources said they felt the BJP was attempting to replicate the Maharashtra model – where the Uddhav Thackeray government was dismantled with the revolt of senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who is now the chief minister.
The combined strength of Bihar Mahagathbandhan is 163. Its effective strength increased to 164 after independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh extended his support to Nitish Kumar.
The new government can prove majority in the Bihar assembly on August 24.
