PATNA: With only seven months left for assembly polls in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday inducted seven legislators into his council of ministers, all from alliance partner BJP.
At a function held in the Raj Bhavan here, governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office to the new inductees who raised the strength of the state cabinet to 36, the maximum number as stipulated under the provisions under Article 164 of the Constitution.
Those who took the oath of office were Jibesh Kumar, Sanjay Saraogi (both from Darbhanga), Sunil Kumar (Biharsharif), Raju Kumar Singh (Muzaffarpur), Moti Lal Prasad (Sitamarhi), Vijay Kumar Mandal (Araria) and Krishna Kumar Mantu (Saran).
4 of 7 new Bihar faces from NDA bastion Mithilanchal
Of the seven new ministers, four are from the Mithilanchal region. With these four, there are now six ministers in the cabinet from Mithilanchal, considered a strong base of the NDA.
Of the seven new ministers three—Sanjay Saraogi, Sunil Kumar and Krishna Kumar Mantu— hail from the backward classes (BC), two–Moti Lal Prasad and Vijay Kumar Mandal—from the extremely backward classes (EBC) and remaining two—Jibesh Kumar and Raju Kumar Singh from the upper castes.
This is the third expansion of the NDA govt in the state in 13 months. Now, the Nitish govt has 36 ministers, with 21 from the BJP, 13 from the JD(U), one from HAM(S), and one independent (Sumit Kumar Singh).
After this expansion, the BJP, which used to be behind Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), has now become the “big brother” in the cabinet. In the 243-member assembly, there are a total of 36 ministers, and for the first time, 21 of them are from the BJP. This means the BJP has one and a half times more ministers than the JD(U).
“This expansion, held just two days before the commencement of the Bihar assembly’s budget session, could be the last before the elections are announced, probably around the month of Sept and Oct, if not early,” said a political analyst.
Of the seven, two legislators took the oath as ministers for the second time, While Jibesh was the minister in the previous NDA govt-led by Nitish, Vijay Mandal was the minister of state for information and public relations in the previous RJD-led govt.
Among the 36 ministers, including CM, 11 are from upper castes (five from Rajput, three from Bhumihar, two from Brahmin and one from Kayastha community), seven from EBCs (three from Mallah and one each from Kahar, Teli, Nonia, Dhanuk), SC five (Paswan two, Ravidas two and Pasi one), Mahadalit two (from Musahar community), Muslim one and 10 from BCs (Koeri-Kushwaha four, Kurmi three, Vaishya two and Yadav one).
Jibesh, who was a member of the state cabinet till Aug 2022, when the chief minister abruptly quit the NDA, told media persons, “I am ready to discharge the responsibility to the best of my ability.”
