DH News Service/ Press Trust of India, Patna, Jul 30 2017, 2:20 IST
Only Kumar and Sushil Modi were sworn-in as the chief minister and the deputy chief minister on July 27 and the ministry was expanded a day after the new JD(U)-NDA government won the confidence vote in the Bihar Assembly. PTI Photo
The two-day-old Nitish Kumar Government, formed with the support of BJP-led NDA, was expanded on Saturday with 27 ministers being sworn in.
While 14 ministers belonged to the JD (U), the rest 13 were from the NDA. This includes 12 from the BJP and one from Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP. Paswan’s younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is neither a member of the Assembly nor Council took the oath as minister.
The other two constituents of the NDA – RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samata Party headed by Upendra Kushwaha) and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha went unrepresented in the new Cabinet.
Altogether 26 ministers were sworn in at the Raj Bhavan in the evening, while former Bihar BJP state president Mangal Pandey, who was out of Patna, was administered the oath by Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi later at 8 pm.
Soon after the function was over, Nitish distributed the portfolios among his ministers. Sushil Modi was made Bihar’s Finance and IT Minister, while Nand Kishore Yadav will be the new Road Construction Minister, the post held earlier by the then Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.
In the 243-member House, a maximum of 37 ministers are allowed as per the constitutional provisions.
Besides Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi, Ramvilas Paswan and the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly Vijay Kumar Choudhary attended the swearing-in function.
Kumar had on July 26 dumped the previous ministry comprising the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress and joined hands with the BJP to form the new government.