New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his cabinet on Friday by including 21 ministers, taking the cabinet strength to 30. The new additions include 12 members from the BJP and 9 from JDU. The ministers were administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar. During the event, the Chief Minister and his two deputies, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, graced the occasion. The chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Narendra Modi Zindabad’, and ‘Abki baar 400 paar’ reverberated through the venue as BJP leaders celebrated their triumphant return to power in the state.
Except for Maheshwar Hazari, who resigned from his position as the assembly’s deputy speaker last month, all JDU appointees are former ministers from the previous Mahagathbandhan government. The BJP has given a chance to Renu Devi, who was a deputy CM until Kumar braked the alliance in August 2022, and her then-cabinet colleagues Mangal Pandey, Nitin Nabin, Neeraj Kumar Singh ‘Bablu’ and Janak Ram, Nitish Mishra.
Besides this, the BJP has also given a chance to new faces like Hari Sahni, Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, Kedar Prasad Gupta, Krishnannandan Paswan, Surendra Mehta, Santosh Kumar Singh, Mohd Zama Khan.
Other JD(U) leaders who are back as ministers include Leshi Singh, Sheela Mandal, Madan Sahni, Ratnesh Sada, Sunil Kumar Singh and Jayant Raj.