CM Nitish Kumar gives Home to Dy CM Samrat Choudhary, JD(U) keeps Finance

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has handed the Home portfolio to Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary in a significant reshuffle, while JD(U) has retained the crucial Finance ministry

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday handed the Home portfolio — which he has held through his 20 years as CM — to Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary. The CM has, however, retained the General Administration Department, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Vigilance portfolios, according to an official notification issued on Friday. 

Who will manage the Finance ministry under the new arrangement? 

The Finance ministry has gone to JD(U)’s Bijendra Prasad Yadav, another departure from earlier alliance arrangements when the Bharatiya Janata Party got the portfolio. Yadav will also handle the Commercial Tax department. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, also of the BJP, will oversee the Revenue and Land Reforms and Mines and Geology departments.

 

What portfolios have been assigned to other JD(U) ministers? 

Senior JD(U) leader Shrawan Kumar has been allotted the Rural Development and Transport departments. Another JD(U) leader, Ashok Choudhary, has been given the Rural Works portfolio.

 

JD(U) minister Vijay Choudhary will handle the Building Construction, Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs ministries, while Madan Sahni, also from the JD(U), has been appointed to lead the Social Welfare ministry.

 

Which portfolios have BJP ministers received? 

The BJP’s Shreyasi Singh has been given the Sports and Information and Technology departments.

 

Arun Shankar Prasad from the BJP will oversee the Tourism ministry, while fellow party leader Sanjay Tiger has been assigned the Labour Resources portfolio.

 

What roles have RLSP and HAM(S) leaders been given? 

Deepak Prakash of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party has been given the Panchayati Raj ministry, while Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Santosh Suman will look after the Minor Water Resources ministry. 

LJP (RV) ministers inducted

 

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MLAs Sanjay Kumar and Sanjay Kumar Singh have been appointed as the ministers for the Sugarcane Department and the Public Health Engineering Department, respectively.

 

Other ministers and their portfolios

• Mangal Pandey (Health and Law)
• Dilip Jaiswal (Industries)
• Leshi Singh (Food Consumer and Protection)
• Nitin Nabin (Road Construction and Urban Development and Housing)
• Ram Kripal Yadav (Agriculture)
• Sunil Kumar (Education, and Science, Technology and Technical Education department)
• Mohd Zama Khan (Minority Affairs)
• Surendra Mehta (Animal and Fishery Resources)
• Narayan Prasad (Disaster Management)
• Rama Nishad (Backward Class and Extremely Backward Classes welfare)
• Lakhendra Kumar Roshan (SC and ST Welfare)
• Pramod Kumar (Cooperative)

When was Nitish Kumar sworn in for his 10th term? 

Nitish Kumar was sworn in for a record 10th term as Bihar’s Chief Minister on Thursday, alongside a 26-member council of ministers, at a ceremony held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union ministers and chief ministers from various National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled states.

 

How does the new Cabinet compare with the previous one? 

The new state Cabinet includes BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, who served as deputy chief ministers in the previous government. They were chosen as the leader and deputy leader, respectively, of the BJP’s legislative contingent during a party meeting on Wednesday. Of the 26 ministers sworn in, 10 were not part of the previous cabinet.