31 new ministers inducted into Bihar cabinet; RJD gets lion's share

A total of 31 ministers drawn from various parties that are part of the Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance, were inducted into the cabinet of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday (August 16).

According to reports, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party has been given at least 16 ministerial berths in the cabinet followed by the Janata Dal (United) with 11 berths.

The portfolios will be allocated later in the day.

Also Read: Bihar’s Grand Alliance will have a coordination committee for smooth run

RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav, MLA Lalit Kumar Yadav, Chandra Shekhar, Anita Devi, Sudhakar Singh and Mohammad Israil Mansuri have already taken their oath as cabinet ministers.

JD(U)’s Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni, Sheela Kumar Mandal and Congress’ Murari Prasad Gautam have also taken their oaths.

#BiharCabinetExpansion | Congress MLA Murari Prasad Gautam, RJD MLA Mohammad Israil Mansuri and others take oath as ministers in the Bihar cabinet. pic.twitter.com/oTSVOADJR0

— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2022

According to sources, “One legislator from Jitin Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and the lone Independent MLA, Sumit Kumar Singh will also take their oaths.”

RJD’s Surendra Yadav, Kumar Sarvjeet, Surendra Ram, Shahnawaz Alam, Sameer Mahaseth and Bharat Mandal are also expected to be inducted into the cabinet along with Congress’s Afaque Alam and Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Santosh Suman.

Also Read: Congress gets a lifeline in Bihar Mahagathbandan, but RJD is sceptical

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to retain most members of his party including Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Choudhary, Sanjay Jha, Bijendra Yadav, Shravan Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Jama Khan.

The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers including the chief minister. Some ministerial berths have been kept vacant for future cabinet expansion.

#WATCH | "The portfolios will be allocated shortly. I will hold a meeting of the entire cabinet today once again," says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar after cabinet expansion. pic.twitter.com/6lMllUN8md

— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2022

Kumar and his RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav on August 10 took oath as the chief minister and deputy chief minister after the former broke his ties with the BJP and joined hands with the RJD to form the Grand Alliance.