New Delhi:
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar expanded its cabinet today with the induction of seven ministers. The move is significant ahead of the Bihar assembly election scheduled this year.
The election will be held in October, and this is the last cabinet expansion before that. This expansion was done to further strengthen the caste chessboard in Bihar. In this expansion, seven new faces were sworn in from the BJP. At the same time, Dilip Jaiswal, who was Revenue Minister in the Nitish government and also president of Bihar BJP, resigned from his post.
HAM(S) leader Santosh Kumar Suman confirmed receiving an informal invite from cabinet minister Mangal Pandey and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary to reach the Raj Bhavan at 4 pm to attend the ceremony.
“I received calls from Health Minister Mangal Pandey and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary who invited me to Raj Bhavan,” Mr Suman told news agency IANS.
Political activity intensified at the homes of Nitish Kumar and his deputy Samrat Choudhary, and BJP state chief Dilip Jaiswal.
The BJP’s central leadership approved the final list of new ministers before the cabinet expansion took place.
Among the leaders who were inducted into the Bihar cabinet were Janak Singh and Raju Singh, who represent the Rajput caste; Aruna Devi, Anil Sharma, Devkant from the Bhumihar caste, Naval Kishore Yadav from the Yadav caste, and Vijay Mandal from Extremely Backward Caste (EBC).
With BJP leaders coordinating with the party’s state in-charge Vinod Tawde, the cabinet expansion is expected to bolster the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) caste balance ahead of the state election.
This expansion is crucial in strengthening the BJP’s influence in Bihar politics while ensuring smooth coordination with the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), before the elections.
Mr Jaiswal said he was quitting as minister adhering to BJP’s one person, one post policy. Mr Jaiswal, who was appointed BJP state president, said holding both positions goes against party principles.
“BJP has a policy of one person one post and hence I resigned from the post of cabinet minister but will continue to lead the BJP in Bihar as a state president,” Mr Jaiswal told IANS in Patna.
