Bihar: Ministers lose key portfolios in Cabinet reshuffle

Patna: After seven BJP legislators were sworn in as Bihar Cabinet ministers and allocated their respective ministries, several existing ministers have had their portfolios reduced or reassigned.

Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha lost the Road Construction, Mines & Geology, and Art, Culture & Youth Departments after the reshuffle that took place on Thursday.

He has now retained only the Mines & Geology and Agriculture departments.

Prem Kumar lost Environment, Forest & Climate Change and retained only the Cooperation Department. Nitish Mishra, who earlier held the Tourism and Industry ministries, will now only have the Industry Ministry.

Nitin Naveen lost two portfolios of Urban Development and Law. He has now been assigned to look after the Road Construction Department.

Mangal Pandey also held two portfolios — agriculture and the health ministries. However, he has retained Health while the Ministry of Law has been added to his portfolio.

The latest cabinet reshuffle in Bihar has significantly reduced the influence of Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS), led by Jitan Ram Manjhi.

His son, Santosh Kumar Suman, who previously held three portfolios, has been left with just one ministry after the redistribution of departments.

Suman was removed from the Information Technology and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Welfare ministries. He will only have the Minor Water Resources Ministry.

Earlier, a day after seven legislators of the BJP were sworn in, the BJP released the list of the departments allocated to them.

Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary arrived at the Chief Minister’s residence with a list of departments handed over to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Sanjay Saraogi was proposed for the Revenue and Land Reforms Department previously held by Dilip Jaiswal, who resigned on Wednesday.

The Mines and Geology Department was added to Vijay Kumar Sinha’s portfolio alongside the Agriculture Ministry.

Meanwhile, Renu Devi has retained the Animal and Fisheries Resources Department.

Similarly, Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu will retain PHED; Nitish Mishra (Industry); Janak Ram (Scheduled Caste and Tribe); Hari Sahni (Backward and Extremely Backward Class Welfare); Krishnanandan Paswan (Sugarcane Industry); Kedar Gupta (Panchayati Raj); Surendra Mehta (Sports); Santosh Singh (Labour Resources); and Santosh Suman has been made the minister of Minor Water Resources Department.

IANS