RJD gets lion's share in expanded Bihar cabinet, Nitish keeps home

NEW DELHI: Bihar's Nitish Kumar government was expanded on Tuesday with the induction of 31 more ministers.
RJD will have the largest representation in the new cabinet with 16 ministers, followed by 11 from Kumar's JD(U). Two MLAs from Congress, one from Hindustani Awam Morcha and an Independent were also sworn in by governor Phagu Chauhan at a function at Patna's Raj Bhavan on Tuesday morning.
There are five Muslim faces in the new cabinet.
Nitish keeps home department
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar retained the all-important home department, giving him direct control over the state police, as portfolios were allocated in the new cabinet.
Kumar has also kept with himself general administration, cabinet secretariat, election and “any other departments not assigned to others”, said an official communication.
Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has got key portfolios like health, road construction, urban housing and development and rural works.
Yadav's elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav has been given environment, forestry and climate change.
Besides the CM and the deputy CM, only Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (finance, commercial tax and parliamentary affairs) and Bijendra Yadav (power and planning and development) have got more than one portfolios.
Yadavs, upper castes among RJD's 16 ministers
The RJD gave representation to Yadavs and also upper castes in choosing its ministers.
Prominent among those sworn in is party chief Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav. Other RJD MLAs who took oath on Tuesady are:
Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta, Israil Mansuri, Surendra Ram, Kartikeya Singh, Shahnawaz Alam, Shamim Ahmed, Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi, Sudhakar Singh, Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar, Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav.

JD(U) retains ministers from previous government
The JD(U) has retained its ministers from the previous dispensation. Among those from the party who took oath include: Mohd Zama Khan, Jayant Raj, Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Yadav, Shravan Kumar and Ashok Choudhary.

Congress picks Dalit, Muslim MLAs for cabinet berth
The Congress picked Murari Gautam, a Dalit, and Afaque Alam from the minority community for its two berths in the Nitish Kumar cabinet.
Santosh Kumar Suman from Jitin Ram Manjhi's HAM and Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh also took oath.
(With agency inputs)