Days after Nitish Kumar took oath as chief minister of Bihar with support of BJP; the Bihar cabinet will be expanded on Saturday. Kumar won the floor test at the one-day special assembly session on Friday. He is likely to induct 16 ministers in his team to run the state. The swearing-in is likely to take place in Raj Bhawan at 5 pm.
Reportedly, seven members from Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), five from BJP and four from other NDA constituents will find berths in the cabinet. Governor, Keshari Nath Tripathi, who recently underwent a surgery for infection in his nose in Patna, was discharged early on Saturday.
Among leader who are likely to be inducted include, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Lesy Singh, Shrawan Kumar, Jai Kumar Singh and Khursheed Alam from JD(U). Apart from that, Nand Kishore Yadav, Prem Kumar, Mangal Pandey, Rajneesh Kumar, Gyanendra Singh Gyanoo and Ramprit Paswan will be from BJP.
Pashupati Kumar Paras from Lok Janshakti Party may also find place in cabinet. Hindustani Awami Morcha (Secular) leader and former chief minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, the lone MLA of his party has ruled out joining the new ministry.
Ideally, the council of ministers can have a maximum of 35 members. So, more ministers would be included to the team when the cabinet is expanded afterwards. Kumar was sworn in on Thursday. Senior BJP leader, Sushil Kumar Modi also took oath as deputy chief minister.
