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


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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)