Nitish Kumar was on Monday sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the seventh time in two decades. He took oath in the presence of top leaders of the NDA including Union Home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda. Besides Kumar, 14 ministers also took oath. While 7 are from the BJP, 6 from the JDU. The HAM and VIP have been given one representation each in the new government. Kumar and others were administered the oath of office at Raj Bhavan by Governor Phagu Chauhan.
On Tuesday, the new Cabinet met in Patna to give its nod to a five-day session of the bicameral Bihar legislature from November 23. The state cabinet approved the Parliamentary Affairs Department’s proposal to convene the first session of the 17th assembly and 196th session of the legislative council from November 23 to November 27.
Sources privy to the first Cabinet meeting told India TV that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also distributed the portfolios among his new colleagues.
Nitish Kumar (JDU) – Chief Minister, Home, General Administration, Vigilance, and all other departments which are not distributed to any minister
Tarkishore Prasad (BJP) – Deputy Chief Minister, Finance, Commercial Taxes, Environment and Forest, IT, Disaster Management, Urban Development
Renu Devi (BJP) – Deputy Chief Minister, Panchayati Raj, Backward Caste Upliftment and EBC welfare, Industry
Vijay Choudhary (JDU) – Rural Engineering Department, Ruler Development Department, Water Resources, Information and Broadcasting, Parliamentary Affairs
Bijendra Yadav (JDU) – Energy, Prohibition, Food and Consumer Affairs
Mewalal Choudhary (JDU) – Department of Education
Ashok Choudhary (JDU) – Building Construction Department, Minority Welfare Department, Social Welfare
Sheela Mandal (JDU) – Transport
Mangal Pandey (BJP) – Health, Road, Art and culture
Rampreet Paswan (BJP) – Public Health Engineering Department
Amarendra Pratap Singh (BJP) – Agriculture, Cooperative, Sugar Cane
Jivesh Mishra (BJP) – Tourism, Labour, Mines
Ram Surat Rai (BJP) – Revenue, Law
Santosh Manjhi (HAM) – Minor irrigation, SC/ST welfare
Mukesh Sahni (VIP) – Animal Husbandry and Fishery
The NDA secured a majority in the October-November Assembly elections, winning 125 seats in the 243-member house. However, Nitish Kumar saw his JDU’s share slip to 43, while the BJP won 74 seats. Two smaller allies — HAM(S) and VIP together won four seats each.
As per the rule, Bihar can have a maximum of 36 ministers including the Chief Minister. The rule says the number of Ministers in the state shall not exceed 15% of the Assembly’s total strength. In the case of Bihar, the Legislative Assembly has 243 seats.
