Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will expand his two-member cabinet today, with the biggest chunk of seats going to alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), sources have said.
Nitish Kumar is likely to retain all ministers from the Janata Dal United including Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Choudhary, Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni, Jayant Raj, Sheela Mandal, Bijendra Yadav, Shravan Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Jama Khan.
31 ministers will be inducted into the cabinet today from various parties that are part of Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance, including the Congress. The ceremony will be held at around 11.30 am at the Raj Bhavan.
From the RJD, the probables for the cabinet berths are – Tej Pratap Yadav, Surendra Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Kumar Sarvjeet, Surendra Ram, Shahnawaz Alam, Sameer Mahaseth, Bharat Mandal, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh.
Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam from the Congress, and Santosh Suman from Hindustani Awam Morcha will also take oath, sources said. The lone Independent, Sumit Kumar Singh, is also likely to be sworn in.
The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said. Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy – RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav – took oath on August 10.
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