AMN / PATNA
Amid speculations of new realignment in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-reshuffled his Cabinet, the portfolio of Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar has been relinquished, and the department has been handed over to Alok Kumar Mehta.
Chandra Shekhar, who has been hitting the headlines for different reasons, is now appointed to lead the Ministry of Cane Development.
The Revenue and Land Resources Department was assigned to Lalit Kumar Yadav, who will continue with his existing responsibility of the Public Health and Engineering Department, according to a notification.
All the three ministers, whose portfolios have been changed, belong to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) camp.
Nitish Kumar’s close aide and veteran leader Vashishth Narayan Singh has been made the national vice president. Singh replaced Mangani Lal Mandal who in March last year became only the second leader to have been made the JD(U)’s vice president.
Meanwhile, Mandal has been made a national general secretary. KC Tyagi, one of JDU’s most visible face in the media, was designated as political advisor and spokesperson.
A former MLA from the CM’s home district of Nalanda, Rajib Ranjan, was also added to list of party’s spokesperson.
The current list of national general secretaries has been pruned to 11 members, a significant reduction from the previous count of 22.
The recent rejig follows the departure of Rajiv Ranjan Singh “Lalan” from the party leadership last month. Lalan, who resigned to focus on his Lok Sabha seat in Munger, had faced speculations of growing proximity to ally RJD, leading to his decision to step down.