JDU had to get a lot in the Union Cabinet expansion, but Nitish had to remain almost empty-handed in the process of teaching a lesson to Chirag Paswan.
Actually, BJP did not want to make Pashupati Paras a cabinet minister, while Nitish was adamant about making him a cabinet minister in any case. As a result, Nitish had to make Paras a minister from his party's quota.
In fact, the BJP had offered two cabinets and one state minister's post to JDU. The BJP was in a quandary over the inclusion of LJP in the government. Whereas Nitish wanted to give the last political blow to Chirag by making Pashupati Paras a minister. When the BJP was not ready for this, Nitish proposed to make Paras a minister from his party's quota.
After a long discussion, the BJP agreed to it. Nitish was very angry with the setback received by Chirag in the assembly elections. The script of the rebellion in LJP was written at his behest. On his assurance, Pashupati opened a front against Chirag and removed him as the leader of the parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha and the chairman of the party's parliamentary board.
Five out of six MPs turned against Chirag. Nitish wanted Pashupati to end the last hope of Chirag by becoming a minister in place of the late Ram Vilas Paswan. However, the BJP wanted to wait for it.
left out formula
Nitish was pressurizing the BJP to give the first four posts. His plan was to send a message to the very backward and the forward along with the Dalit community through expansion. In this sequence, he had to make Lalan Singh, RCP Singh, Ramnath Thakur, and Santosh Kushwaha ministers. But after the screw got stuck in the name of Pashupati, the picture changed.
The role of allies remained symbolic
It seemed that the expansion of the cabinet would see the strength of the allies and the number of allies in the government would increase. For this, talks were also being held with YSR Congress and AIADMK.
However, in expansion, the allies in the form of LJP, JDU, and Apna Dal could get only one post each. The first allies held three cabinet posts and one minister of state. Now the allies have two cabinet posts and two ministers of state.