The swearing-in ceremony of the newly inducted ministers in the Bihar Cabinet took place today in Patna on Friday. This is the first time after the dissolution of the alliance with RJD, Nitish Kumar has expanded his cabinet. He was earlier reappointed as the Chief Minister after breaking off the Mahagathbandhan alliance. However, the expansion of Nitish Kumar's cabinet has not been possible yet. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded the cabinet today (March 15). .
Additionally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made several phone calls to various leaders. He contacted Ashok Choudhary and former minister Madan Sahni. It is worth noting that there have been speculations for several days regarding the expansion of the cabinet, but it has been stalled due to various reasons. Recently, a meeting was held between the BJP and JDU leaders. Deputy Chief Ministers Renu Devi and Vijay Sinha attended this meeting. Apart from them, JDU leaders Lalit Singh, Sanjay Jha, Bijendra Yadav, and Vijay Chaudhary were also present.
BJP nominees - 12 ministers to take oath
The list of ministers to be sworn in from the BJP quota includes a total of 12 names. These individuals are:
- Mangal Pandey
- Renu Devi
- Neeraj Babloo
- Nitish Mishra
- Nitin Nabin
- Janak Ram
- Kedar Gupta
- Dilip Jaiswal
- Krishnanandan Paswan
- Santosh Singh
- Surendra Mehta
- Hari Sahni
JDU quota - 9 MLA ministers to be appointed
Nine MLAs are set to become ministers under the JDU quota. The list includes:
- Ashok Choudhary
- Leshi Singh
- Madan Sahni
- Sheila Mandal
- Zama Khan
- Maheshwar Hazari
- Ratnesh Sada
- Sunil Kumar
- Jayant Raj
Previous meetings on the subject
In this meeting, it is reported that Lalit Singh and Sanjay Jha brought a list of potential ministers. Following this, discussions were held on the cabinet expansion. It is believed that in the cabinet expansion, most of the ministers who were ministers in the previous Mahagathbandhan government under the JDU quota may be sworn in as ministers. According to constitutional provisions, there can be a maximum of 36 ministers in Bihar, including the Chief Minister. Currently, there are a total of 9 ministers in the state cabinet, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Among them, Renu Devi and Vijay Kumar Sinha are the Deputy Chief Ministers. Besides them, the BJP's Dr. Prem Kumar, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, and Shravan Kumar (all three from JDU), Janata Dal United's Santosh Kumar Suman, and Independent Sumit Kumar Singh also took the oath of office.
Government formed with BJP's support
It is noteworthy that, with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on January 28. Nitish Kumar had resigned from the post earlier, leading to the dissolution of the government in the state. He cited the inability to fulfill the promises made to the people and differences within the coalition as the primary reasons for his resignation. Later, he formed the government in Bihar with the support of the BJP.
Also read | Nitish Kumar, Rabri Devi, 9 others elected unopposed to Bihar Legislative Council
