Bihar cabinet expansion: 31 ministers take oath; CM retains home, Tejashwi gets health, roads

Portfolios were also distributed, with JD(U) retaining most the ministries it held in the previous NDA government. CM Kumar retained the crucial portfolios of home, general administration, cabinet and parliamentary affairs.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a week ago and realigned with the RJD and other parties to form a new government of Grand Alliance in the state, on Tuesday expanded his cabinet by inducting 31 ministers, of which the lion’s share (16) went to RJD, followed by Kumar’s JD-U (11), Congress two, HAM(Secular) one, besides one berth to an Independent MLA.

At the swearing-in-ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Patna on Tuesday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Portfolios were also distributed, with JD(U) retaining most the ministries it held in the previous NDA government. CM Kumar retained the crucial portfolios of home, general administration, cabinet and parliamentary affairs.

RJD got most of the portfolios held by BJP ministers in previous NDA government. Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav got key departments like health, road construction, urban development and rural development.

His elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav, who was health minister in the Nitish Kumar government from 2015-17, has been given the department of environment, forests and climate change.

Only education and finance departments have been swapped between JD(U) and RJD.

JD(U)’s Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who was education minister in the previous NDA government, has been given finance while RJD’s Chandrashekar has been given the important education portfolio.

While JD(U) has mostly retained its ministers who served in the previous NDA government, RJD’s list has a mix of former ministers and new faces, giving the state’s new cabinet a wider representation from backward classes , extremely backward classes , scheduled caste (six ministers), Muslims ( five ministers), followed by upper castes.

RJD’s Alok Kumar Mehta, a new face in the cabinet, has been given revenue and land reforms while RJD’s another new ministerial face, Sameer Kumar Mahaseth, who comes from OBC, has been given industry portfolio.

Another prominent face in the state cabinet is Sudhakar Singh, son of RJD’ state president Jagdanand Singh, who has been allotted agriculture.

Most of the ministers joined office within hours after taking oath of office administered by Governor Phagu Chauhan at a simple ceremony in Raj Bhawan.

Later, in a brief interaction with media, CM Kumar said the newly inducted ministers would work for the development and progress of the state.

Caste composition

Of the RJD’s 16 ministers, seven, deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, come from Yadav community, a traditional vote bank of the party, while three are Muslims, which include Shahanawaj, the MLA from Jokihat constituency who was elected on an AIMIM ticket in 2020 and recently switched to RJD along with three other MLAs of the Asauddin Owaisi-led party. Shahanawaj has been given disaster management department.

One RJD minister, Anita Devi, comes from EBC and has been allotted backward classes and extremely backward classes welfare department, while there are two ministers from scheduled castes, Kumar Sarabjit (tourism) and Surendra Ram (labour resources).

In a bid at inclusiveness, RJD has also given representation to two upper caste MLAs — Sudhakar Singh, son of RJD’s state president Jagdanand Singh, a Rajput, and Kartikya Kumar, an MLC, who is a Bhumihar. He has been given law portfolio.

JD(U)’s list is a combination of backward classes, scheduled castes, Muslims and upper castes.

Congress has given representation to one MLA from scheduled caste, Murari Prasad Gautam, who has been allotted panchayati raj department, while another minister Mohammed Afaque Alam, a Muslim, has been allotted animal husbandry and fisheries department.

Overall, the new cabinet has 16 ministers from backward and extremely backward classes, six from scheduled castes, six from upper castes and five from the Muslim community.

GA’s total strength of MLAs

The Grand Alliance in Bihar, comprising seven parties, has a total strength of 163. Its effective strength climbed to 164 after Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh extended his support to Nitish Kumar. The new government is likely to prove majority in the Bihar assembly on August 24.

The three Left parties, though constituents of the GA, have not joined the cabinet.