Bihar's new Cabinet takes charge as 27 ministers sworn in

A total of 35 MLAs and ministers, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, were expected to take the oath of office.

Patna: Twenty-seven ministers of the new Bihar Cabinet were sworn in on Saturday by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at the Raj Bhawan here.

Of the total, 14 were from the Janata Dal (United), 12 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from the LJP, ANI reported. 

BJP's Mangal Pandey, who is party in-charge of Himachal Pradesh, was away in Shimla and could not attend the ceremony. However, he was sworn in later at the Raj Bhavan after he arrived by a chartered flight from Chandigarh.

On Thursday, Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister and BJP's Sushil Modi as the deputy.

Besides Kumar and Modi, Union minister and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan and Speaker of Bihar Assembly Vijay Kumar Choudhary attended today's swearing-in ceremony.

No one from RJD or the Congress, who are now in the opposition, was seen at the ceremony.

Also absent was former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the lone MLA of his Hindustani Awam Morcha, a BJP ally. He is away in Delhi where he has reportedly gone to meet President Ram Nath Kovind and BJP leaders.

However, RLSP ministerial hopeful Sudhanshu Shekhar, who attended the swearing-in, expressed unhappiness over the denial of berth to the party.

"Not only me but all the party members are unhappy over the denial of a ministerial seat to the RLSP... Our party leader (Kushwaha) will take a decision on the matter," he told PTI.

In the 243-member House, a maximum of 37 ministers are allowed as per the constitutional provisions. So eight berths are still vacant.

As in the previous government, Nitish will continue to handle Home and Department of Personnel and Training.

On Friday, he had won the crucial trust vote in the Bihar Assembly with 131 votes in favour and 108 against.

All the JD(U) ministers of the grand alliance government were retained.

After Nitish ended the 'mahagathbandhan' and resigned from his post, JD(U) and BJP MLAs had met the Governor to stake claim to form the government.

Nitish resigned citing political differences with former ally, Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD, over corruption charges against Tejashwi, following which the state saw a rigmarole of political events including dharnas and probationary orders.

The development came hours after Lalu took a jibe at Nitish, saying he was aware of his longtime friend's party's growing bonhomie with the BJP. 

Here is the list of Cabinet ministers: 

CM Nitish Kumar - Home & Department of Personnel and Training

Dy CM Sushil Modi - Finance, Commerce & Forest minister

Nand Kishore Yadav-- Road Construction

Shrawan Kumar-- Rural Development and Parliamentary Affairs

Ram Narayan Mandal-- Revenue and Land Reforms

Jai Kumar Singh-- Industries, Science and Technology

Pramod Kumar-- Tourism

Krishnandan Verma-- Education

Maheshwar Hazari-- Building Construction

Vinod Narayan Jha-- PHED

Shailesh Kumar-- Rural Works

Suresh Kumar Sharma-- Urban Development and Housing

Kumari Manju Verma-- Social Welfare

Vijay Kumar Sinha-- Labour Resources

Santosh Kumar Nirala-- Transport

Rana Randhir Singh-- Cooperative

Khurshid alias Feroz Ahmad-- Minority Welfare and

Sugarcane Development

Vinod Kumar Singh-- Mines and Geology

Madan Sahni-- Food and Consumer Protection

Krishna Kumar Rishi-- Art and Culture

Kapildeo Kamat-- Panchayati Raj

Dinesh Chandra Yadav-- Minor Irrigation and Disaster

Management

Ramesh Rishideo-- SC, ST Welfare

Brij Kishore Bind-- Backward and EBC Welfare

Pashupati Paras-- Animal and Fish Resources.

(With agency inputs)