Hectic lobbying among NDA partners for berths in new Bihar Cabinet ahead of Nov 20 swearing-in

Hectic lobbying has started among NDA partners to finalise the allocation of Cabinet berths ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the new Bihar government, scheduled to take place here on November 20.

Sources said the new Cabinet is likely to include five to six fresh faces from the main constituents — the BJP and JD(U).

Umesh Singh Kushwaha, JD(U) chief of the state unit who won from Mahnar seat, is likely to be inducted in the new cabinet of Nitish Kumar, who prepares to take oath as the CM for a record 10th time.

Kumar will submit his resignation to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan as head of the outgoing government on November 19.

While the JD(U) is set to retain most of its ministers, the BJP may introduce a few new faces, sources said.

Of the 25 ministers in the outgoing Cabinet who contested the polls, all but one won.

The lone unsuccessful minister, Sumit Kumar Singh, elected as an Independent in 2020 and later inducted into the Cabinet, failed to retain his seat after contesting on a JD(U) ticket.

Along with the JD(U) and the BJP, smaller partners — Union minister Chirag Paswan’s LJP (RV), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM-S, and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM — will also be part of the new Cabinet.

“The LJP (RV) is likely to get three berths while HAM-S and RLM may get one berth each. A maximum of 16 ministers from the BJP and 14 from JD(U), along with Nitish Kumar, are likely to take oath on November 20,” sources said.

“We are looking forward to greater representation in the new Cabinet compared to the last one in which we had only 12 ministers. Our tally has risen sharply since 2020, when we had fewer than 50 MLAs,” JD(U) sources said.

Apart from the CM, JD (U) leaders who are expected to be part of the new Cabinet include: Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Shrawan Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Lesi Singh, Sheila Mandal, Madan Sahni, Ratnesh Sada, Mohammad Zama Khan, Jayant Raj, Umesh Singh Kushwaha and Ashok Chowdhary.

New entrants from the party may include Rahul Kumar Singh, Sudhanshu Shekhar, Kaladhar Prasad Mandal and Panna Lal Singh Patel, sources said.

As far as BJP is concerned, sources in the party said most ministers in the outgoing Cabinet are likely to be retained, though the party is considering bringing in three to four new faces.

Those likely to be repeated are Samrat Choudhary, Prem Kumar, Mangal Pandey, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Nitish Mishra, Renu Devi, Jibesh Kumar, Neeraj Kumar Singh, Janak Ram, Hari Sahni, Kedar Prasad Gupta, Surendra Mehta, Santosh Kumar Singh, Sunil Kumar, Motil Lal Prasad etc.

New faces in the BJP who may get Cabinet berths include Rana Randhir, Gayatri Devi and Vijay Kumar Khemka, sources said.

The historic Gandhi Maidan, the venue for the swearing-in ceremony, has been closed to the public until November 20.

The Patna district administration said entry of common people has been barred and a large security deployment has been put in place, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the ceremony.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several senior NDA leaders, including Rajnath Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan, are also likely to be present.