Congress to have three ministers in Nitish’s new govt

Nitish Kumar, who took oath as the chief minister along with his deputy Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on August 10, is set to expand his cabinet any time after August 15.

There will be three ministers from the Congress in Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s new cabinet, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge Bhakta Charan Das, who arrived in the state capital on Sunday, said.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had met Congress’s interim president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi a few days back. (HT)

“Two of the leaders will take oath first, while the third one will be inducted in the next expansion,” Das said.

Kumar, who took oath as the chief minister along with his deputy Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on August 10, is set to expand his cabinet any time after August 15.

Last week, Kumar’s party, the JD(U), had walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and he resigned as the chief minister, only to stake claim to form his next government in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The RJD, which is set to have the lion’s share in the cabinet of around 30-32 ministers, on Sunday held a meeting with senior party leaders to shortlist the candidates. “The meeting is going on. Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad have been given the responsibility to pick the ministers,” said RJD leader Alok Kumar Mehta, also a hopeful for a place in the new cabinet.

Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav said they (leaders of regional parties) have come together to save democracy in the country. “Narendra Modi-led BJP wants to annihilate the regional parties, which basically consist of the Dalits and backwards. Nitish Kumar hails from backward community, and hence the BJP targeted to finish his party,” he said.

“After demolishing the quintessence of all autonomous constitutional institutions, the Modi government has embarked on the mission to finish the regional parties. It had broken the Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party in to two to obliterate the legacy a Dalit leader. Now, the PM wants to obliterate the opposition to destroy democracy and thereby establish the dictatorship,” Yadav said, adding that his ambitions would never realise.