by Alok Mohit
PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday expanded his cabinet with the inclusion of 31 new ministers. As expected, the biggest chunk of ministerial berths has gone to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which is the single largest party in the state legislative assembly.
Portfolios allocated: CM keeps Home, Tejashwi to look after Health Deptt
Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers–16 from RJD, 11 from chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), two from Congress, one from former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one Independent.
The portfolios of the newly inducted ministers were also allocated soon after the swearing-in ceremony.
According to a Raj Bhawan communique, chief minister Nitish Kumar has retained Home department while deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has been given Health, Road Construction, Urban Development and Housing departments. Finance and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio has been given to Vijay Kumar Choudhary.
Most of the JD(U) ministers in the previous NDA government in Bihar have been retained by the chief minister. They include Mohammad Zama Khan, Jayant Raj, Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni, Shravan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Yadav.
From the RJD, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta, Surendra Prasad Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav, Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar, Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi, Sudhakar Singh, Israel Mansuri, Surendra Ram, Kartikeya Kumar, Shahnawaz Alam and Shamim Ahmed were sworn in.
Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam from Congress, Santosh Suman from HAM and Independent legislator Sumit Kumar Singh also took oath as ministers.
The new cabinet has three women. The number of Muslims in the council of ministers is five, up from only one in the previous NDA government that fell last week after the chief minister severed ties with the BJP and returned to the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan). Congress legislators Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam were also inducted into the cabinet as ministers, while Santosh Suman was sworn in from Hindustani Awam Morcha.
The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the chief minister. Some ministerial berths had been kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said.
Nitish Kumar had broken away from the NDA and formed a government with the Grand Alliance last week. Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav were sworn in on August 10.
The Bihar Grand Alliance has a strength of 164. The new government is to prove majority in the Bihar assembly on August 24. likely
LIST OF MINISTERS AND THEIR PORTFOLIOS:
Nitish Kumar (JDU) – Home, General Administration, Cabinet Secretariat
Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav (RJD)– Health, Road Construction, Urban Development, Housing asnd Rural Development.
Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JDU)- Finance, Commercial Tax and Parliamentary Affairs
Tej Pratap Yadav (RJD) – Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Bijendra Yadav (JDU)– Power, Planning and Development
Alok Kumar Mehta (RJD)–Revenue and Land Reforms
Md Afaque Alam (Cong)– Animal and Fish Resources
Ashok Choudhary (JDU) –Building Construction
Shravan Kumar (JDU) –Rural Development
Surendra Prasad Yadav (RJD)—Cooperative
Ramanand Yada (RJD) –Mines and Geology
Leshi Singh (JDU) –Food and Consumer Protection
Madan Sahni (JDU) –Social Welfare
Kumar Sarvajeet (RJD)—Tourism
Lalit Kumar Yadav (RJD) -Public Health Engineering
Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM)—Scheduled Caste/Tribe Welfare
Sanjay Kumar Jha (JDU)—Water Resources, Information & Public Relations
Sheela Kumari (JDU)—Transport
Samir Kumar Mahaseth (RJD)—Industry
Chandrasekhar (RJD)—Education
Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent)—Science and Technology
Sunil Kumar (JDU)—Prohibition, Excise and Registration
Anita Devi (RJD)—Backward and extremely Backward Class Welfare
Jitendra Kumar Rai (RJD)—Art, Culture and Youth Affairs
Jayant Raj (JDU)—Minor Water Resources
Sudhakar Singh (RJD)—Agriculture
Md Zama Khan (JDU)—Minority Welfare
Murari Prasad Gautam (Cong)—Panchayati Raj
Kartikeya Kumar (RJD)—Law
Shamim Ahmed (RJD)—Sugarcane Industry
Shahnawaz Alam (RJD)—Disaster Management
Surendra Ram (RJD)—Labour Resources
Md Israil Mansuri (RJD)—Information Technology
