Bihar Govt Formation: Full list of ministers who took oath along with Nitish Kumar
Bihar Government Formation: As many as 14 ministers took oath along with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday evening at the Raj Bhawan in Patna. Governor Phagu Chauhan administered Nitish and others the oath of office and secrecy. The ceremony was attended by Union minister Amit Shah, and BJP's national president JP Nadda. This is Nitish's fourth consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Bihar. He took oath as the Bihar CM for a record seventh time. One of the biggest changes in the Nitish cabinet is absence of BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi who served as deputy CM. This time, Nitish Kumar has two deputy CMs - BJP's Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi.
READ MORE: Nitish Kumar to be sworn in as Bihar CM today, BJP's Tarkishore Prasad, Renu Devi to be deputy CMs
FULL LIST OF MINISTERS SET TO TAKE OATH TODAY
Chief Minister: Nitish Kumar (JDU)
Deputy Chief Minister: Tarkishore Prasad (BJP)
Deputy Chief Minister: Renu Devi (BJP)
Minister: Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JDU)
Minister: Vijendra Prasad Yadav (JDU). He won from Supaul.
Minister: Ashok Choudhary also took oath as minister. He is the working president of Janta Dal United.
Minister: Mewa Lal Choudhary of the JDU took oath as minister in the Nitish cabinet. Choudhary won from Tarapur in Munger district. He had won from here in 2015 too.
Minister: Sheela Mandal of the JDU took oath as minister. Sheela Mandal won from Phulparas in Madhubani. Sheela defeated Kripanath Thakur of Congress and Bonod Kumar Singh of the LJP
Minister: Santosh Suman Manjhi of Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) took oath as minister. He is the son of HAM chief and former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi. Santosh is a member of the Legislative Council.
Minister: Mukesh Sahni, who heads the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), has been made a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. Interestingly, the former Bollywood set designer lost election from Simri Bakhtiyarpur seat.
Minister: BJP leader Mangal Pandey, who worked as Health Minister in the outgoing government, also joined the new Nitish cabinet.
Minister: Amrendra Pratap Singh, who won from Ara seat, belongs to the Rajput community. His father Harihar Singh was the former chief minister of Bihar.
Minister: Rampreet Paswan, 67, took oath as minister in Maithili. He has won Rajnagar seat in Madhubani district thrice.
Minister: Jivesh Kumar Mishra is a science graduate. He won from Darbhanga's Jale seat.
Minister: Ramsurat Rai, who won Aurai seat in Muzaffarpur district, is a first time minister.
In another related development, BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav is set to be the Speaker in the new Assembly. Nand Kishore won from the Patna Sahib Assembly seat. The Speaker's post has been with the JDU ever since he took over a decade and a half ago.
The NDA in Bihar comprises fiur parties -- JDU, BJP, HAM, and VIP. The alliance won 125 seats in the 243-member Legislative Assembly. While the BJP won 74 seats, the JDU secured 43 seats. HAM and VIP pocketed four seats each.
