Patna : The Samrat Choudhary-led Bihar government expanded its cabinet on Thursday in a high-profile ceremony at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attending the event.
Governor Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd) administered the oath of office to the newly inducted ministers as the NDA government carried out its first major cabinet reshuffle after its sweeping victory in the Bihar Assembly elections.
The biggest talking point of the cabinet expansion was the induction of JD(U) leader Nishant Kumar, son of party patriarch Nitish Kumar, who formally entered politics only weeks ago.
His inclusion signals the growing political role of the younger Kumar within the Janata Dal (United) and the NDA government in Bihar.
Leaders from the BJP, JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha also took oath as ministers during the ceremony.
BJP Inducts Several Senior Leaders
Among BJP leaders sworn in were Ram Kripal Yadav, Kedar Gupta, Nitish Mishra, Mithlesh Tiwari, Rama Nishad, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Dilip Jaiswal, Pramod Chandravanshi, Lakhvinder Paswan, Sanjay Singh ‘Tiger’, Engineer Kumar Shailendra, Nand Kishore Ram, Ramchandra Prasad, Arun Shankar Prasad and Shreyasi Singh.
Several senior BJP faces, including Ram Kripal Yadav, Nitish Mishra and Sanjay Singh Tiger, were inducted into the new cabinet.
JD(U) Secures Strong Representation
The JD(U), which had reportedly pushed for greater representation in the government after the NDA’s electoral success, saw multiple leaders inducted into the ministry.
Those sworn in from the party included Nishant Kumar, Shravan Kumar, Madan Sahni, Lesi Singh, Shweta Gupta, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Damodar Rawat, Bulo Mandal, Sunil Kumar, Sheila Mandal, Ratnesh Sada, Jama Khan and Ashok Choudhary.
Senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary and Damodar Rawat were among the prominent names to take the oath.
Allies Also Get Ministerial Berths
From the LJP(R), Sanjay Paswan and Sanjay Singh were inducted as ministers. HAM(S) leader Santosh Suman and Rashtriya Lok Morcha’s Deepak Prakash also joined the cabinet.
