31 ministers to join Nitish cabinet, caste factor to hold key

Patna: A total of 31 MLAs in Bihar are likely to take oath as ministers as part of the cabinet expansion on Tuesday at a swearing-in ceremony to be held in Rajendra Mandapam hall of Raj Bhavan.

Nitish Kumar is likely to retain all ministers from his party JD-U. The ministers include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Choudhary, Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni, Jayant Raj, Sheela Mandal, Bijendra Yadav, Shravan Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Jama Khan.

From the RJD, Tej Pratap Yadav, Surendra Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Kumar Sarvjeet, Surendra Ram, Shahnawaz Alam, Sameer Mahaseth, Bharat Mandal, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh will be given berths. Sudhakar Singh, son of RJD’s state president, Jagdanand Singh, might become a minister, according to sources. It goes without doubt that the Yadav caste is going to have lion’s share from the RJD.

From Congress, Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam are likely to get ministerial berths as part of the party’s strategy to back a Muslim and a Dalit. Congress’ state in-charge Bhakt Charan Das has said that the party is tipped to get three ministerial berths, two of which will be filled on Tuesday.

As per media reports, Santosh Suman from Hindustani Awam Morcha will also take oath.

The state cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the chief minister. The induction of ministers is expected to keep a few berths vacant for future expansion. The RJD and JD-U are said to have reached an in-principle agreement under which the Lalu Yadav party, which is the largest party in the state assembly, will have a lion’s share of ministerial berths.

After the change in power, Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav were already signed up as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

It is said that earlier names of Shakil Ahmed Khan, an AICC secretary and one of the most vocal MLAs, besides Rajesh Ram, were doing the rounds.

–INDIA NEWS STREAM