Bihar cabinet expansion: 31 ministers inducted, including 16 RJD MPs
Bihar’s newly formed cabinet grew on Tuesday when 31 ministers were sworn in, with the RJD taking the lion’s share and taking care to represent all sections of society, including minorities.
Of the ministers who were sworn in, 16 were from the RJD, 11 from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), two from Congress, one from former Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and one independent.
The number of Muslims in the new cabinet is five, compared to just one in the previous NDA government which fell last week after the chief minister cut ties with the BJP.
Predictably, the RJD granted a significant number of seven places to the Yadavs, including Tej Pratap Yadav, the eldest son of party chairman Lalu Prasad.
However, he also gave representation to upper castes in line with the broader social reach of MP CM Tejashwi Yadav.
Among those in the RJD quota were Kartikeya Singh, an MLC from Bhumihar, and Sudhakar Singh, a Rajput, whose father Jagadanand Singh is currently the state president.
The JD(U) retained its ministers from the previous dispensation.
The Congress is represented by a Dalit and a Muslim.
(Only the title and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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