JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar is set to be sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth straight term today at 4:30 PM. The constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which won the Bihar Assembly election, approved Kumar’s name for the top job at a meeting on Sunday.
On Sunday, Kumar along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leaders held meetings discussing the probable size of the cabinet.
News agency PTI reported that Nitish Kumar could get two deputy chief ministers, like in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, and Prasad and Renu Devi might be elevated as a step in that direction. The names of Tarkishore Prasad, a Vaishya who is known to be close to Sushil Modi, and Renu Devi and Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) who was formerly the party’s national vice president kept doing the rounds for the Deputy CMs post.
Nitish Government probable ministers:
There are chances the JD(U) having 43 MLAs could get 12 ministerial berths while the BJP having 74 MLAs could get 18 ministers with one ministerial berth to be allotted to both Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), as per the reports.
HAM president Jitan Ram Manjhi, a former Chief Minister, has ruled himself out of joining the new ministry and is said to be lobbying for his son Santosh Suman who is a member of the legislative council, PTI reported.
The maximum number of ministers in the cabinet permissible in the government is 36 as the size of the council of ministers can be only 15% of the total number of seats in the Assembly, which stands at 243.
Full List of Ministers in previous government of Nitish Kumar (2017)
Nitish Kumar – Chief Minister
Home
General Administration
Cabinet Secretariat
Vigilance
Election
Other departments not allocated to any Minister
Sushil Kumar Modi – Deputy CM
Finance
Commercial Taxes
Environment & Forest
Information Technology
Brijendra Prasad Yadav – JDU
Prem Kumar – BJP
Ashok Choudhary – JDU
Nand Kishor Yadav – BJP
Sharawan Kumar – JDU
Ram Narayan Mandal – BJP
Jai Kumar Singh – JDU
Mangal Pandey – BJP
Krishana Nandan Prasad – JDU
Pramod Kumar – BJP
Maheshwar Hazari – JDU
Vinod Narayan Jha – BJP
Shailesh Kumar – JDU
Suresh Kumar Sharma – BJP
Santosh Kumar Nirala – JDU
Vijay Kumar Sinha – BJP
Feroz Ahmad – JDU
Rana Randhir – BJP
Madan Sahni – JDU
Krishna Kumar Rishi – BJP
Ramesh Rishidev – JDU
Brij Kishor BInd – BJP
Narendra Narayan Yadav – JDU
Bima Bharti – JDU
Sanjay Kumar Jha – JDU
Ramsevak Singh – JDU
Neeraj Kumar – JDU
Lakshmeshwar Rai – JDU
