Bihar: 17 ministers take oath in the first cabinet expansion
Tuesday, 9 February 2021 (15:56 IST)
Patna: With induction of 17 new ministers in the Nitish Kumar government, the long drawn political uncertainties within National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over cabinet expansion came to an end on Tuesday.
Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath to 17 ministers including 9 from BJP and 8 from JD(U) quota in a function at Rajbhavan.
The oath was administered in presence of Chairman of Bihar Legislative Council Awdhesh Narayan Singh, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Ministers Renu Devi and Tarkishor Prasad, ministers in Nitish cabinet, former Bihar Deputy CM and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi and other dignitaries.
The major constituent of the alliance--BJP and JD (U)-- took 85 days to purge off the political row and pressure tactics which deepened with each passing day.
After the government formation on November 16, 2020, this is the first cabinet expansion in which 17 ministers were inducted.
BJP and JD(U) both expressed confidence in young and new faces and have also tried to keep a balance between social and regional representation in the cabinet expansion in which two Muslims one each from BJP and JD(U) have been inducted.
Sunil Kumar, a former IPS officer, Nitin Navin, Neeraj Kumar Bablu, Narayan Prasad, Sumit Kumar Singh, Alok Ranjan Jha, Jayant Raj, Subhash Singh, Janak Ram, Jaman Khan are novice in the cabinet.
At the time of government formation 14 ministers along with the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had taken oath on November 16 last year. With today’s expansion the strength of cabinet increased to 31 including two women.
As per the strength of the House, the cabinet can have a maximum of 36 ministers. (UNI)
