Bihar Cabinet expands to 32, including Nishant
Bihar’s first cabinet expansion under chief minister Samrat Choudhary took place on Thursday at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, with all ministers taking oath in a high-profile ceremony attended by top NDA leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Among the biggest highlights of the expansion was the induction of JD(U) leader Nishant Kumar, son of party patriarch Nitish Kumar, barely weeks after formally entering politics.
On his arrival, Modi received a celebratory welcome in Patna by party workers conducting a road show since it was PMs first public appearance after the massive electoral gains in West Bengal early this week.
“I am overwhelmed by the love and blessings of my family members from Bihar in Patna! I am deeply grateful to all of you from the bottom of my heart for this warm welcome. Your unprecedented enthusiasm clearly shows that our resolve for development and public service is receiving full support from the people,” Modi said in Patna, congratulating the first BJP CM-led cabinet members.
Nishant Kumar, along with leaders from the BJP, JD(U), LJP(R), HAM(S) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, was sworn in as minister as the NDA Government carried out its first major cabinet reshuffle after sweeping the Bihar Assembly polls.
While Samrat Choudhary held General Administration, Home, Cabinet Secretariat, Vigilance, Civil Aviation and all such departments that have not been allocated to anyone as his portfolios, Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Chaudhary got Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs.
Deputy CM Bijendra Prasad Yadav was given the important Finance portfolio, while Vijay Kumar Sinha got Agriculture and Nishant Kumar’s portfolio was Health. His predecessor, Mangal Pandey of the BJP, had served as Health Minister in the last Nitish Kumar regime; however, he did not get any portfolio in the Samrat cabinet, becoming the talk of the political circle in the State.
Altogether 32 leaders, drawn from all constituents of the five-party NDA in the state, were administered the oath of office by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain.
BJP, which is the single largest party in the 243-member assembly with 89 MLAs, has 15 ministers, who took oath on Thursday.
JD(U) is represented by a total of 15 ministers, 13 of whom took the oath at the Gandhi Maidan on Thursday. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav had taken oath in April along with Samrat Choudhary and were designated as deputy chief ministers.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan, both from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, are back as ministers, and so are Santosh Kumar Suman and Deepak Prakash, sons of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, respectively.
Others who made it in the expansion are Leshi Singh with Housing Construction as portfolio and Ram Kripal Yadav as Minister for Cooperation. The list includes Neeloo Mishra as Urban Development & Housing, IT portfolio, Damodar Rawat for Transport, Sanjay Singh Tiger will be the new Higher Education and Law Minister, Ashok Chaudhary has got Food & Consumer Protection, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha as Planning & Development portfolio, Arun Shankar Prasad will be the new Labour, Employment & Skill Development Minister, Madan Sahni has been allocated the Prohibition, Excise & Registration department, Santosh Kumar Suman as Minor Water Resources portfolio, Ramdeo Prasad Nishad got the SC & EBC Welfare, Pallavi Saha will lead Income Tax, Kumar Dhirendra will be the new Minister for Road Construction, Sheela Kumari will head Science, Technology & Technical Education, Kedar Prasad Gupta the Tourism Minister, some prominent names like Shweta Gupta to head Social Welfare, Sanjay Kumar to lead Sugar Industry Ministry and Deepak Prakash will be the new Panchayati Raj Minister.
