Five days after forming the government, the Nitish Kumar-Tejashwi Yadav team in Bihar expanded its Cabinet today. As many as 31 ministers, including five Muslims and three women legislators, were inducted into the Cabinet. Nitish retained most of the JD(U) ministers from the previous government. Tejashwi managed to get an upper hand in berth allocation and also got portfolios for his loyalists, including his brother. Incidentally, RJD has the largest number of seats in the Grand Alliance.
Earlier on August 10, a day after he snapped ties with the BJP and joined hands once again with the Mahagathbandhan (RJD, Congress and Left), Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) took oath as Bihar’s chief minister for a record eighth term. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav took oath as the deputy chief minister. In July 2017, Nitish Kumar, had left the Mahagathbandhan over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav – then too his deputy CM – and joined hands with the BJP.
Among those who took the oath, 16 were from RJD, 11 from JD(U), two from Congress, one from ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one Independent.
Nitish Kumar has kept the plum Home Department post with him in addition to, General Administration; Cabinet Secretariat; Monitoring; Election; and all such departments which are not allotted to anybody yet.
Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has bagged Health; Road Construction; Urban Development and Housing; and Rural Works, while his brother Tej Pratap Yadav was made minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He was the Health Minister in the previous Grand Alliance government, a charge that Tejashwi has kept with himself this time.
Senior JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has got the important portfolio of Finance; along with Commercial Tax; and Parliamentary Affairs. Bijendra Yadav from Nitish’s party has been given the portfolios of Energy; and Planning and Development. Chandrashekhar from the RJD is responsible for the Education department.
No one from the Left parties has been inducted into the Cabinet so far. Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office.
The expanded Cabinet:
- 1. Nitish Kumar – Party: (JDU) – Department: Chief Minister; General Administration; Home; Cabinet Secretariat; Monitoring; Election; all such departments which are not allotted to anybody.
- 2. Tejashwi Yadav – Party: RJD – Department: Deputy CM; Health; Road Construction; Urban Development and Housing; Rural Works.
- 3. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary – Party: (JDU) – Department: Finance; Commercial Tax; Parliamentary Affairs.
- 4. Bijendra Yadav – Party: (JDU) – Department: Energy; Planning and Development.
- 5. Shravan Kumar – Party: (JDU) – Department: Rural Development.
- 6. Ashok Choudhary – Party: (JDU) – Department: Building Construction.
- 7. Leshi Singh – Party: (JDU) – Department: Food and Consumer Protection.
- 8. Sanjay Jha – Party: (JDU) – Department: Water Resources; Information and Public Relations.
- 9. Madan Sahni – Party: (JDU) – Department: Social Welfare.
- 10. Sheela Kumari – Party: (JDU) – Department: Transport
- 11. Sunil Kumar – Party: (JDU) – Department: Prohibition, Products and Restrictions.
- 12. Mohd Zama Khan – Party: (JDU) – Department: Minority Welfare.
- 13. Jayant Raj – Party: (JDU) – Department: Minor Water Resources.
- 14. Tej Pratap Yadav – Party: RJD – Department: Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
- 15. Alok Mehta – Party: RJD – Department: Revenue and Land Reforms.
- 16. Surendra Prasad Yadav – Party: RJD – Department: Revenue and Land Reforms.
- 17. Ramanand Yadav – Party: RJD – Department: Public Health Engineering.
- 18. Kumar Sarvajeet – Party: RJD – Department: Tourism
- 19. Lalit Yadav – Party: RJD – Department: Mines and Geology
- 20. Samir Kumar Mahaseth – Party: RJD – Department: Industry
- 21. Chandrashekhar – Party: RJD – Department: Education
- 22. Jitendra Kumar Rai – Party: RJD – Department: Art, Culture and Youth
- 23. Anita Devi – Party: RJD – Department: Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes Welfare
- 24. Sudhakar Singh – Party: RJD – Department: Agriculture
- 25. Md. Israil Mansuri – Party: RJD – Department: Information Technology
- 26. Surendra Ram – Party: RJD – Department: Labour Resources
- 27. Kartikeya Singh – Party: RJD – Department: Law
- 28. Shahnawaz Alam – Party: RJD – Department: Disaster Management
- 29. Shamim Ahmed – Party: RJD – Department: Sugarcane Industry
- 30. Afaque Alam – Party: Congress – Department: Animal & Fisheries Resources
- 31. Murari Gautam – Party: Congress – Department: Panchayati Raj
- 32. Santosh Kumar Suman – Party: HAM – Department: SC/ST Welfare
- 33. Sumit Kumar Singh – Independent – Department: Science and Technology
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