PATNA: JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar swore in as the chief minister of Bihar for a record tenth time on Thursday. Nitish's 26-member Cabinet presents a mix of senior coalition leaders and 12 new entrants.
BJP, which emerged with the most number of seats in the Assembly polls has bagged 14 ministerial posts while the JDU has got 8 ministers. Chirag Paswan's LJP(RV) got two ministers while the HAM and RLM got one each.
One new entry that has stunned many is of RLM chief and MP Upendra Kushwaha's son, Deepak Prakash. Prakash was sworn in as a minister even though he is currently neither an MLA nor an MLC. He has been made a minister from the RLM quota. The RLM has won four seats in the assembly.
After taking oath, Prakash said, “I thank my leader and father Upendra Kushwaha for giving me this opportunity. I have got a chance to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. It is a matter of honour for me.”
With Deepak’s induction in the cabinet, the NDA is eyeing Kushwaha votes while also maintaining the Luv-Kush (Kurmi–Kushwaha) caste balance in the alliance. The Luv-Kush bloc is considered a core vote bank of Nitish Kumar.
Another new entrant is Sanjay Kumar Singh, who won from the Mahua assembly constituency in Vaishali district. Singh is considered close to LJP(RV) chief Chirag Paswan.
Lakhendra Kumar Raushan, who won from the Patepur (reserved) constituency in Vaishali district on a BJP ticket, has also been made a minister for the first time.
Shreyashi Singh, who won from Jamui, is another first-time minister in the Nitish government. Former union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, who won from the Danapur assembly constituency, has also been inducted. He secured victory by defeating Ritlal Yadav, a criminal-turned-MLA who is currently lodged in jail.
Shreyashi Singh, daughter of former union minister Digvijay Singh, also took oath as a minister. With several medals in shooting championships to her credit, she enters the cabinet for the first time, having begun her political journey in 2020 and winning from Jamui.
Rama Nishad, Narayan Prasad, Surendra Mehta, Arun Shankar Prasad, Sanjay Singh Tiger, Pramod Kumar (all BJP MLAs), Dilip Kumar Jaiswal (BJP MLC), and Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar (both from the LJP-RV) are among the 12 new faces inducted in the new cabinet.
All ministers from the previous government --including Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Vijendra Kumar Yadav, Sharavan Kumar, Lesi Singh, Ashok Choudhary, and Madan Sahni (all JD-U), as well as Mangal Pandey and Nitin Nabin-- have been reappointed.