Patna: As a seasoned politician, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has maintained his hegemony with a loud and clear message to the saffron party. The cabinet expansion of Nitish Kumar on Tuesday proves that he still calls the shots if one looks at the portfolio's distribution.
It was the first cabinet expansion of Nitish ever since he came to power in the 2020 Assembly Election in Bihar. Including Nitish, there were only 14 ministers in his cabinet but on Tuesday the total minister has gone up to 30.
On Tuesday, 17 ministers were inducted in the cabinet of Nitish Kumar out of which 9 were from BJP and 8 were from JDU. Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath to the newly inducted minister in a function held at Raj Bhavan.
With the expansion of the cabinet, the functioning of the department is expected to get pace. Former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain who once worked under late Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was inducted in the cabinet as Industry Department Minister.
Ironically, the department which Hussain has got has no scope in Bihar as the state is considered a dead and stagnant in terms of industry opportunity. Earlier this portfolio was under Deputy CM Renu Devi who will now look after Disaster Management apart from Backward Class and Extremely Backward Class Welfare Department.
Read:| Nitish Kumar to expand Bihar cabinet today
Hussain took oath in Urdu whereas Nitish's confidante Sanjay Jha took oath in Maithili.
The cabinet expansion was delayed for almost 85 days due to tug of war between JDU and BJP over the distribution of portfolios. However, Nitish remained on top keeping all the important departments with him including Home and General Administration.
Off late, there was a demand from a certain section of BJP leaders that Nitish should leave the Home Department over deteriorating law and order situation in the state. However, nothing happened as such and the department remained with Nitish.
Another big name was Sushant Singh Rajput cousin Neeraj Kumar Singh alias Neeraj Bablu who has been given Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department.
The biggest surprise was Nitin Navin, first time minister who was given an important portfolio- Road Construction Department. In the past, this department was always given to the senior leaders of the party like Nand Kishore of BJP and Lalan Singh of JDU. However, when Nitish had formed the government with RJD and Congress Tejashwi Prasad Yadav held this portfolio for 18 months.
There are several new faces in the cabinet and young leaders have been given priority in the ministry including Sumit Kumar Singh who was an independent MLA and recently joined JDU. Son of former minister Narendra Singh who represented Chakai Assembly seat was awarded Science and Technology Department portfolio.
Similarly, the lone BSP MLA Jama Khan who recently shifted his loyalty to Nitish was equally given an award with Minority Welfare Department portfolio. Interestingly Khan is the only Muslim minister from JDU.
Nitish's JDU which was earlier playing the role of big brother in the state faced jolt in the Assembly poll and became the third number party with 43 MLA whereas BJP bounced back with 74 legislators. As the political situation took a turn in the favour of BJP, the saffron party on several fronts doing things on their condition.
As things stand now, the Bihar cabinet can have a maximum of 36 ministers and after the expansion, the total comes to 30 with HAM and VIP included.
Trusting the former IPS officer Sunil Kumar who was serving Bihar government in the rank of director-general was given another important portfolio. He had won election from Bhore Assembly seat and Nitish gave him Registration, Excise and Prohibition Department assuming to break liquor nexus in the so-called dry state.
The other new faces who took oath as ministers include Subhas Singh, Narayan Prasad, Jayant Raj, Alok Ranjan and Janak Ram.
Nitish has made a fine caste balance in the distribution of the portfolios giving equal representation to both upper and backward caste. Rajputs remained on top in terms of maximum numbers of ministers taking oath followed by Brahman, Kushwaha, Muslims, Nishad, Mahadalit and Baniya.
Ironically no minister from Bhumihar caste was inducted in the ministry. From now onwards it would be interesting to see how the government functions in days to come with an expanded cabinet of Nitish Kumar.
