With the BJP announcing that it would be contesting as many seats in Bihar as its alliance partner JD(U) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to expand his Cabinet soon to accommodate leaders coming from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Backward castes. Mr. Kumar also met State Governor Lalji Tandon on Tuesday in what is being described as a “courtesy call”.
The buzz in political circles is that a Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader too could be inducted into the Cabinet to smooth the ruffled feathers of party chief Upendra Kushwaha, who, after meeting the Bihar in-charge of BJP Bhupendra Yadav in Delhi on Tuesday, had said that as an NDA partner, he was ready to accept losses (in the number of LS seats contested) but wanted to know why his party was being denied the benefits of the formation of an NDA government in Bihar. A women legislator is also likely to get ministerial berth in the Nitish Cabinet.
The Nitish Kumar Cabinet presently has 28 Ministers, including the Chief Minister, but it can have 36 members given the State Assembly’s strength of 243 members. In July 2017, when Mr. Kumar parted ways with the RJD-led Grand Alliance and joined hands with the BJP again, the other allies — the RLSP, the Lok Janshakti Party and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) — were offered one ministerial berth each in the Cabinet. The LJP made State party chief Pashupati Kumar Paras as the Animal Husbandry Minister, but HAM (S) rejected the offer and later switched to the RJD-led Grand Alliance.
RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha wanted loyalist party MLA Sudhanshu Kumar to be inducted into the Cabinet, but party sources told The Hindu that the Chief Minister was eager to accommodate another RLSP MLA Lallan Paswan, who has been critical of Mr. Kushwaha, in the Cabinet which was unacceptable to the latter. The long-time political bitterness between Mr. Kumar and Mr. Kushwaha has been an open secret in the State.
“So now, in the changed political scenario, Nitish Kumar may include RLSP leader Sudhanshu Kumar in the Cabinet under pressure from the BJP top leadership to keep Upendra Kushwaha within the NDA fold with seats being offered to him for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” a senior State BJP leader told The Hindu.
Strong contenders
Mr. Kumar also has an eye on the Extremely Backward Classes and women voters to maintain the “social balance” of the Cabinet. Following the resignation of Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, there is no woman Minister in Mr. Kumar’s Cabinet.
Meanwhile, ruling party sources said both Ashok Choudhary, a former Congress party leader and Education Minister who had joined JD(U) after being removed from the post of State party president last year, and Shyam Rajak, another JD(U) leader, were strong contenders for ministerial berths. Mr. Choudhary and Mr. Rajak are from the EBC community. Mr. Kumar on Wednesday also participated in the party’s Dalit-Mahadalit workers’ meeting in Gaya.
The name of Ranju Geeta, a JD(U) MLA from the Bajpatti constituency in Sitamarhi district, is also doing the rounds for a ministerial berth. The BJP too could push the name of a leader representing the upper castes, as the Swarn Sena (representing the upper castes), of late, had been protesting against the BJP leaders at several places across the State against the amendments to the SC/ST Act and demanding reservation for the poor among them.