After much delay and speculations, the Nitish Kumar Cabinet in Bihar on Tuesday was expanded, with nine from the BJP and eight from the JD(U) taking oath as ministers. Most of them are young faces.
Nitish Kumar’s cabinet expansion today turned out to be a message for ally BJP, which had been out to grab the dominant position in the alliance after its big win in last year’s assembly elections. But the BJP’s numerical advantage was lost as all important departments like Home, Personnel, Education, Rural Development, Rural Works, Water Resources remained with the Chief Minister’s Janata Dal United.
More than twenty years after he was appointed as a Union minister, BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain today took oath as a minister in the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar. He took oath in Urdu.
Among others, who took oath during the cabinet expansion of the Nitish Kumar government, are late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s cousin Neeraj Singh Babloo, Sumit Kumar Singh, Sanjay Kumar Jha, muscleman politician Jama Khan, Pramod Kumar, Shravan Kumar and Nitin Naveen.
What is significant about the expansion is that several new faces, especially from the BJP, have found their way in the Cabinet. Leaders like Prem Kumar and Nand Kishore Yadav, who were part of all previous NDA governments, have not found a place this time, while Sushil Kumar Modi has been sent to the Rajya Sabha.
From the last Cabinet, BJP has retained only two ministers this time – Mangal Pandey and Pramod Kumar. On the other hand, JD(U) has retained several old guards.
Independent MLA Sumit Singh has also been inducted into the Bihar cabinet. Before swearing-in as a minister, he today said that he has a strong relations with Nitish Kumar and he will give his best to meet people’s expectation.
Jama Khan is the lone Muslim face from the JD(U) in the Cabinet, while Singh is the youngest. The party has also given an opportunity to first-time MLAs –former DG Sunil Kumar and Jayant Raj.
With this, the total number of ministers in the cabinet has reached 30, against the prescribed number of 36. While JD(U) has the CM’s post, the BJP has two deputy CM posts. Now with the expansion, the BJP’s share in the cabinet has reached 16, JD(U)’s 12 and one each from the HAM and the VIP.
