PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday expanded his cabinet with the induction of seven new faces, all from the alliance partner BJP.
The development comes three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bhagalpur where he transferred the 19th instalment of PM Kishan Samman Nidhi to bank accounts of farmers and inaugurated several development projects.
All the seven MLAs were sworn in as ministers at a simple function held at Raj Bhawan.
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted ministers in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Speaker of Bihar assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, deputy chief ministers—Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha besides other ministers of the Nitish Kumar cabinet.
Those who were inducted as ministers in the much-awaited expansion include—Sanjay Sagaogi (Darbhanga Town), Jibesh Mishra (Jale), Dr. Sunil Kumar (Biharsharif), Raju Kumar Singh (Sahebganj), Krishna Kumar Mantu (Amnour), Motilal Prasad (Riga) and Vijay Mandal (Sikti).
The expansion assumed significance in the wake of assembly elections due in October-November this year. Hours before the expansion of cabinet, revenue and land reforms department minister Dilip Jaiswal resigned from the post of minister on the directive of the central leadership of the party.
His resignation was accepted, paving the way for the induction of the seventh minister in the cabinet. With the induction of seven new ministers, the strength of the new cabinet has gone upto 36 in the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly.
Earlier, there were only 30 ministers, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Several ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, Nitish Mishra and Mandal Pandey were holding additional charge of two or more than two departments.
Sources said that the departments would be allocated to the newly inducted ministers shortly.
With Wednesday’s cabinet expansion, the number of ministers from BJP quota in the 243-member Bihar assembly has gone upto 21 while its ally Janata Dal (United) has 13 ministers.
Of the 21 ministers from BJP quota are two deputy chief ministers—Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. One Independent MLA is also a minister. Regional and caste factors played a crucial role in the selection of names of MLAs elevated to ministers in poll-bound Bihar.
The ruling BJP has tried to woo voters of Mithilanchal and Simanchal region by giving prominence to its MLAs in the new cabinet expansion. Among the newly inducted ministers, two MLAs come from Upper castes—Rajput and Bhumihar.
In addition, two are from the Vaishya community and the remaining three from Koeri-Kurmi (EBC).
“Since assembly elections are only eight months away, people’s representatives from Upper castes, Vaishya and EBC categories have been given representation in the new cabinet expansion,” a political analyst said.
He said that Wednesday’s cabinet expansion is crucial in strengthening the BJP's influence in the state politics while ensuring smooth coordination with its major ally--JD(U), ahead of elections.
The expansion took place a day after BJP president J P Nadda called on CM Nitish at his 1 Anne Marg residence.
Dilip Jaiswal, however, will continue to serve as state chief of the BJP. “In BJP there is a principle of ‘one person, one post’. I quit the post of minister under the party’s policy,” Jaiswal said, adding that he has been given the responsibility of the state party’s affairs.