Bihar Cabinet Expansion: Nitish Kumar expands his cabinet, inducts 17 new ministers; check full list

Ahead of Bihar Budget Session which is scheduled to start from February 19, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expanded his cabinet by inducting 17 new ministers. While nine from the BJP were inducted, seven leaders from the JD(U) found place in the revamped Nitish cabinet. One independent MLA, who has extended his support to the Nitish government, has also been inducted into the cabinet.

BJP leader and Member of Legislative Council Member Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was also sworn in as a member of Nitish cabinet. Other leaders from BJP included Pramod Kumar, Samrat Chaudhary, Neeraj Singh, Subhash Singh, Nitin Naveen, Narayan Prasad, Alok Ranjan Jha and Janak Ram. Janak Ram has been made a minister for the first time. He is a former MP. Though he is not a member of any House in Bihar, he will be sworn in as a Member of Legislative Council later. On the other hand, Neeraj Singh is the cousin of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh.

भाजपा की तरफ से मंत्रिपरिषद विस्तार में शपथग्रहण करने वाले निम्न माननीयों को हार्दिक बधाई व सहर्ष शुभकामनाएं! pic.twitter.com/uxP0W3EwYe

— Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal (@sanjayjaiswalMP) February 9, 2021

From JD(U), Sanjay Kumar Jha, Shravan Kumar, Lesi Singh, and Madan Sahni, Jama Khan, Sunil Kumar, and Jayant Raj have been inducted into the cabinet. While Sunil Kumar is a former IPS officer, Jayant Raj is JD(U)’s Kushwaha face and is the youngest minister in this cabinet. He has been sworn in as a minister for the first time.

Independent MLA Sumit Singh has also been inducted into the Bihar cabinet. Before swearing-in as a minister, he today said that he has a strong relations with Nitish Kumar and he will give his best to meet people’s expectation.

With this, the total number of ministers in the cabinet has reached 30, against the prescribed number of 36. While JD(U) has the CM’s post, the BJP has two deputy CM posts. Now with the expansion, the BJP’s share in the cabinet has reached 16, JD(U)’s 12 and one each from the HAM and the VIP.

The NDA had secured a simple majority with 125-seat in the 243-seat Bihar Legislative Assembly.

With the BJP being the largest party in the coalition, the power-sharing terms reflect the same sense in ministerial berth-sharing as well. While the BJP had won 74 seats, the JD(U) had bagged 43 seats in the state assembly election held last year.