Bihar cabinet expands, 31 ministers inducted

PTI

Patna, August 16

The newly formed cabinet in Bihar expanded on Tuesday when 31 ministers took oath, with the RJD getting a lion's share, and care having been taken to represent all sections of the society, including the minorities.

Among the ministers who took oath, 16 were from RJD, 11 from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), two from Congress, one from ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one Independent.

The number of Muslims in the new cabinet is five, up from only one in the previous NDA government that fell last week after the chief minister severed ties with the BJP.

The RJD has, predictably, given a significant number of seven berths to Yadavs, including Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of party president Lalu Prasad.

It, however, also gave representation to the upper castes in keeping with the wider social outreach by deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.

Among those from the RJD quota were Kartikeya Singh, a Bhumihar MLC, and Sudhakar Singh, a Rajput, whose father Jagadanand Singh is currently the state president.

The JD(U) has retained its ministers from the previous dispensation.

The Congress is represented by a Dalit and a Muslim.

12:55 16 Aug

5 take oath in final round

Israel Mansuri, Surendra Ram, Kartikeya Singh, Shahnawaz Alam, Shamim Ahmed (all RJD) and Murari Gautam (Congress) take oath in final round of Bihar cabinet expansion. 

12:24 16 Aug

2 JDU, 3 RJD ministers takes oath in fifth batch

Mohd Zama Khan, Jayant Raj (both JDU), Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh (all RJD) take oath in fifth batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

12:15 16 Aug

Fourth batch takes oath

Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar (both JDU), Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar (both RJD) and Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent) take oath in fourth batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

12:10 16 Aug

Third batch of 5 ministers takes oath

Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni (both JDU), Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav (both RJD) and Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM) take oath in third batch of Bihar cabinet expansion. 

12:03 16 Aug

Second batch takes oath

Shravan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh (all JDU), Surendra Prasad Yadav and Ramanand Yadav (both RJD) take oath in second batch of Bihar cabinet expansion. 

12:01 16 Aug

Tej Pratap Yadav also inducted

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Yadav (both JDU), Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta (both RJD) and Afaque Alam (Congress) take oath in first batch of Bihar cabinet expansion. 

12:00 16 Aug

Five sworn in as cabinet ministers

Five MLAS sworn in as cabinet ministers in 'Mahagathbandhan' govt in Bihar, including Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Tej Pratap Yadav and Alok Mehta. 

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