Bihar CM might expand his cabinet

Faced with resentment within Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United over announcement of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to expand his cabinet Tuesday, leaders close to him said.

"Since nearly a dozen party legislators, including three ministers, are keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls either as independents or from another grouping if they are not given party tickets, Nitish Kumar is forced to expand his cabinet to pacify them," a JD-U leader said.

Senior JD-U leader and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh recently questioned the manner in which names of party candidates were being announced.

He suggested to Nitish Kumar not to do so during his visits to different parts of the state to address public meetings.

"Stop distributing tickets during visits. It demoralizes the grassroot party workers," Narendra Singh said.

Singh has expressed his unhappiness over inducting leaders of other political parties into the JD-U and instantly announcing their candidature from different Lok Sabha constituencies.

"It is unfair to hand out tickets to guests soon after they embrace party membership. It causes disenchantment among the party workers," he said.

In the last one month, over a dozen leaders from different parties have joined the JD-U and most of them have been nominated as party candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.