8 JD(U) leaders take oath as ministers
ANWARUL HODA / PATNA
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expanded his Cabinet amid tussle with BJP. Eight new Ministers have been included. Governor Lalji Tandon administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers at Raj Bhawan in Patna.
The legislators who were included as Ministers are Ashok Choudhary, Neeraj Kumar, Sanjay Jha, Shyam Rajak, Bima Bharati, Ram Sewak Singh, Narendra Narayan Yadav and Lakshmeshwar Rai. All are from JD(U).
The eight Janata Dal (United) ministers who took oath today are Ashok Choudhary, Shyam Rajak, Lakshmeshwar Rai, Beema Bharti, Ram Sevak Singh, Sanjay Jha, Neeraj Kumar and Narendra Narayan Yadav. Narendra Yadav and Ranju Geeta are the new faces of the Nitish Kumar government. On June 1, state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had met Governor Lalji Tandon to inform him about the cabinet expansion plan.
Not a single BJP MLA was allowed a portfolio in the state cabinet. Speaking on the cabinet expansion, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said JDU leaders were inducted in the cabinet because vacancies from JDU quota in the cabinet were empty and there is no issue with BJP and everything is fine. The Nitish Kumar government was functioning with only 25 Ministers in the 243-member Assembly. It was below full strength. Now, with the addition of eight more faces, the number of ministers number has risen to 33.
Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi were among those present on the occasion.
Eleven posts of Ministers were lying vacant.