Nitish Kumar inducts 8 new members in Bihar Cabinet, no berth for ally BJP

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday inducted eight new faces in his council of ministers — all from Janata Dal (United) — days after he refused to join the new Narendra Modi government after being offered only one berth in the central Cabinet. Allies, Bhartiya 

Janata Party (BJP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), were left out of the expansion. 

Kumar later explained he had offered a single position to the BJP, but the party wasn't too keen. 

“When the alliance formed, the number of ministers and departments were decided. There was large number of vacancies in the JD(U) quota after the general elections. At present, only JD(U)'s quota has been filled. All these portfolios were with us from the beginning,” Kumar said, and added, "There is no issue with the BJP." 

Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi confirmed the party was offered a seat in the state Cabinet. "The BJP decided to fill it in future," he tweeted. 

LJP chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan also said: “NDA is very much intact. Everything will be sorted. Nitish ji is an important leader of NDA in Bihar.” The BJP and the LJP still have one seat in the state Cabinet according to the “preoperational distribution”.

With the expansion, the number of ministers in the state, including the CM, has risen to 33. A total of 36 ministers, including the CM, can be inducted in the Cabinet. 

The new ministers — Sanjay Jha, Neeraj Kumar, Shayam Rajak, Ashok Chaudhury, Bima Bharti, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Ram Sevak Singh, and Laxmeshwar Rai — were administered the oath of office at a function at the Raj Bhavan in Patna by Governor Lalji Tandon. Kumar later rejigged portfolios of some of his ministers.