E-Paper
Nitish Kumar to expand cabinet on Tuesday
The Bihar cabinet which can have a maximum of 36 ministers, currently has a strength of 14.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will expand his cabinet on Tuesday, according to an official statement.
Fourteen ministers including chief minister Nitish Kumar had taken oath on November 16 last year. The state cabinet can have a maximum of 36 ministers.
NDA functionaries familiar with the development said nine BJP and eight JD (U) members will be sworn in as ministers on Tuesday.
The JD (U) had bargained for sharing of ministerial vacancy on a 50-50 basis after its alliance with the BJP hit a rough patch recently when its MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh defected to the saffron party
The BJP said its member of legislative council Shahnawaz Hussain and two MLAs Subhash Singh and Nitin Navin are likely to be named as ministers.
Earlier on Monday, Kumar when asked about cabinet expansion at a function had said that the BJP list was still to come.
The cabinet expansion was imminent as the budget session of Bihar assembly is to begin from February 19 and many ministers are currently holding charge of multiple departments which in turn was adversely affecting the working of departments.
